Growing Up Is Optional
by Quillandwand
Summary: Ten years after the war most people have managed to move on with their lives, but some have yet to decide what they want from the future. Hermione is happy with her life - she has an interesting job, is surrounded by friends and family, and there's no reason to change anything. At least that's what she thought until one tiny, little secret comes out, forcing her to make a choice.
1. Prologue

Since the age of eleven Harry had been a part of the Weasley family and it wasn't much later that Mrs Weasley considered Hermione as one of hers as well. The two of them had spent many a Christmas with the Weasleys and only a few years after the war, Harry officially joined the family when he and Ginny got married. However, as much as Mrs Weasley loved her sons and Hermione, she gave up hope of the bright witch ever officially becoming a Weasley, when her short-lived relationship with Ron fizzled out and they decided, they were better suited as friends. Even more heartbroken than the two of them, it only became a little easier for Mrs Weasley the following Christmas when Ron brought Luna along and it was clear as day that the dotty woman was the one for her youngest son. Though Luna did on occasion try Mrs Weasley's patience, she couldn't have asked for a better daughter-in-law.

In fact, all of her daughters-in-law were rather impressive. Over the years, she had grown to love Fleur, even though they'd had a rocky start way back when. Unlike Fleur, Angelina and Katie - Fred and George's wives respectively - didn't even give her the chance to find fault with either relationship as the two women made it clear that whatever they got up to with her sons wasn't for her to criticise or otherwise comment on. Angelina made the point with a little more tact than Katie, but Mrs Weasley could respect their attitudes either way. Percy's wife was a different matter altogether. While Audrey didn't have a bad bone in her body, Mrs Weasley had never managed to connect with her and as such they never had much to talk about. However (and more importantly), she was happy that Percy had found someone whom he loved so wholeheartedly and who loved him just as much in return.

Then there was Charlie. Although she would never admit to it if asked by her family, Mrs Weasley had given up on Charlie ever bringing someone home to meet the rest of the family. She figured that he had relationships in Romania, but whether they were with women, men, or both she had no idea. Right after the war, Charlie used to be her favourite target for meddling. It was different back then with Fleur being pregnant, Harry and Ginny moving in together, and everyone else pairing up and settling down as well. Charlie was the exception, and she always felt like he just needed a push in the right direction - a few pointed comments here and there, inconspicuous blind dates with friends' unattached daughters, one blind date with a friend's single son. No matter what she tried, it was no use though, and after a couple of years she gave up.

That only left Hermione for her to be concerned about.

The Christmas after the war everyone was only just beginning to think about their futures and what to do with their lives following You-Know-Who's defeat, and the year after that Hermione and Ron were still a couple. The following year, Ron brought Luna along and Hermione didn't spend Christmas with them because they had at last found a way to return her parents' memories to them. Another year passed and Hermione's parents decided to stay in Australia, but because of her busy work schedule, Hermione couldn't visit them and ended up at the Burrow with the Weasleys. The year after that Hermione almost brought someone along to meet the rest of the Weasleys for Christmas, but she broke up with whoever it was and in a bid to escape the pitying looks of her adopted family and her friends, she escaped to Romania. Charlie hadn't been able to get any time off because of a sudden wave of the flu among the dragons and they needed every helping pair of hands they could get. Although Mrs Weasley missed Hermione and Charlie that Christmas, she knew that they at least weren't alone come Christmas Day.

The years after that Hermione threw herself into her work and alternated between going to Australia for Christmas and spending the holidays at the Burrow. That was until last year, when she broke with the tradition. Hermione achieved something everyone had thought impossible. With the help of Luna, as well as some blood from Harry and Tonks, she brought back Sirius Black from behind the Veil a couple of weeks before Christmas. Having spent over a decade in limbo, stuck between life and death, Sirius had trouble adjusting to being alive once more. He'd completely missed the Second Wizarding War, but what had been even more disorientating to him had been the fact that he was now closer in age to his godson than his best friend, Remus.

On top of that, said best friend had married his cousin and they'd had a son, who was already nine years old. While it wasn't just Sirius who needed time to adjust, he was the one who needed the most help the first few weeks after he was back. Since Harry and Hermione had been so involved in Sirius' rescue, they spent all their time following the ritual helping him settle in and sort out all the paperwork to officially bring him back from the dead. As a result, the three of them missed most of last year's Christmas at the Burrow. However, Mrs Weasley wasn't all that worried - these things tended to sort themselves out over time and she was certain that come Christmas the following year everything would be back to normal.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello, everyone!_

 _Thank you for reading the prologue of this story! It's going to be quite a bit longer than anything else I've posted to date, and I wanted to use this space to tell you about how I'm planning on posting this/some technical stuff in advance.  
_

 _I'm tentatively planning on updating every two weeks. I work full-time, which sometimes includes working on weekends, so currently updating every two weeks seems the most reasonable to me. Depending on whether my workload is lighter or heavier, updating times might be adjusted as well.  
_

 _This will be posted as I write, though I'm currently a few chapters ahead, and I know where the story is going. However, to keep some surprises for you guys, I won't be updating the pairing until this story is finished. Yes, there is an "endgame couple" and I know which one it is, but until we get to that point, there will be a few other pairings and types of relationships thrown into the mix. I'm planning on this being a slow burn c:_

 _Lastly! Anyone interested in beta-ing? Shoot me a pm~_


	2. Chapter 1

Sometimes, Hermione found it hard to believe that ten years had seemingly passed in the blink of an eye. Overall they lived peaceful lives, had their tight-knit circle of former Order members and so-called war heroes, and after ten years enough time had passed for the wizarding world to rebuild itself -and improve at that. Diagon Alley had expanded, Hogsmeade had grown, and Hogwarts was beginning to see more students than ever. For his first term after the war, Kingsley had pushed through more reforms than even Hermione could have dreamt up, even though she was _quite_ involved in drafting some of them, all in order to fix the broken system of the Ministry. Of course there were hiccups and bumps along the road, but those minor problems made her relish the good things in life all the more - like lunch with a good friend.

She smiled to herself as she entered a small café not too far from the Ministry, where she and Ginny had decided to meet. Ginny had sent her an owl that morning, saying that she needed a break from five year old James, two year old Albus and one year old Lily. She loved her children like you wouldn't believe, but occasionally she had to get out and just be her own person for a while. Those days she dropped off her three little monsters with Mrs Weasley or Remus and Tonks and sometimes even Sirius, so that she and Hermione could have lunch or an afternoon to themselves to chat about everything under the sun. Today Hermione found the younger witch already seated at a table in a quiet corner of the café, a massive cup of coffee in front of her.

"Hi, Gin." Taking off her coat and scarf before sitting down at the table with Ginny, Hermione gave her friend a once-over and raised her eyebrows. "Sleep badly?"

"Don't even ask," the red-head groaned, taking another big gulp of her coffee. "James told Al some story about monsters under beds and of course Al's imagination just went haywire." Ginny flipped through the café's menu while telling Hermione about how she'd spent most of last night trying to convince Al his room was safe and he could sleep there without worrying about monsters.

"Poor Al. I remember having nightmares when I was younger, but it was never really monsters under my bed," Hermione said, smiling at the waitress, who brought her a second menu. Looking through it, a season's special caught her eye: a stew that seemed like just the right thing to warm one up during a cold and wet November.

"Same. I got scared by sounds when I was really small. Always thought someone was breaking the house and that it would collapse on us, when it was really just Fred and George, waking up during the night and deciding it was playtime," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

Hermione laughed, shaking her head, "And now they've got children of their own."

"Scary thought, that." Ginny's laughter rang out as well, only to subside as their conversation lulled for a few moments. They studied the menu once more and appeared deep in thought over their choice of food. In the end, Hermione ordered a coffee in addition to the stew and leaned back in the comfortable armchair. Her gaze wandered over the bookshelves the café had put along the walls. A lot of the books on display she'd read before, but some of the titles she could make out made her fingers itch, ready to grab one of the books and spend the rest of the day in her cosy flat to read the day away. Ginny could tell where Hermione's mind had drifted off to and she sighed.

"Would you stop thinking about books for a moment?" she asked, with a smile on her face that showed she didn't actually mind Hermione's particular proclivity for the written word.

"Books are always on my mind, Gin. They're my one true love - they hardly ever disappoint and never betray you," Hermione replied, only half joking, and Ginny snorted.

"That wasn't dramatic at all."

Hermione shrugged, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. "Why did you want me to stop thinking about books and my filthy, filthy affair with them?"

Ginny burst out laughing at that, and breathlessly said, "I swear to Merlin, you spend too much time with Sirius. He's beginning to rub off on you." Hermione let out an undignified snort before her friend continued, "Although if you're still on about your love affair with his library, he's probably not rubbing off on you in quite the right way yet." It was Hermione's turn to burst out laughing, but the tiniest blush still coloured her cheeks, which Ginny didn't miss, but filed away to contemplate later.

"Anyway!" Ginny exclaimed, holding up her hand to stop Hermione from making another remark that would surely distract her. "I was wondering if you wanted to organise the Secret Santa this year or if you'd like me to do it again?"

Hermione thought about it for a moment before answering. "It would probably be better if you organised it this year. The department's pretty swamped at the moment and I'm not sure if I'll be going down to visit my parents over the holidays." Ginny nodded and was about to say something when their food arrived.

While they took their first few bites Ginny managed to hold back what was on her mind, but it didn't take long before she went, "Mum would be disappointed if you didn't spend Christmas with us this year after how little she saw of both you and Harry over Christmas last year." The spoon, on its way to Hermione's mouth, stopped and she frowned a little.

"My parents haven't seen me in a while and I wasn't at theirs for Christmas last year either," Hermione said, her tone defensive as her brows knitted together, and Ginny looked at her apologetically.

"I know that. I'm just warning you what Mum will be like if you do decide to go to Australia. You'd think with all the tiny terrors around she wouldn't miss you, but she does." Hermione knew that of course, but hearing it from Ginny's mouth made a small smile appear on her face all the same.

"I'll decide soon," Hermione said, ending that line of conversation and Ginny was happy to drop the topic as well. The rest of lunch was spent chatting about wholly unrelated topics - Hermione's current workload at the Ministry, the winter break that had just started for the Holyhead Harpies, and the Christmas product line Fred and George were planning for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes this year. The holiday lines, particularly the Christmas ones, had become a bit of a phenomenon in wizarding Britain as they were eagerly anticipated every year and sold out within hours. Although she'd said her department was swamped, Hermione took a long lunch break that day, reminding herself that she'd built up too much overtime anyway. Besides, none of the case files on her desk that day had been particularly urgent matters. With that in mind, she ordered a refill on her coffee halfway through their meal and settled in for a long chat with Ginny.

* * *

A little over a week had passed since Hermione and Ginny's lunch and all the Weasleys, honorary Weasleys, their significant others and children had come together for one of their usual weekend dinners at the Burrow. The chatter and laughter that always followed the meal was picking up, the kids were just running off to play somewhere else, and Mrs Weasley wasn't even thinking about moving the dishes over to the sink yet, while everyone else was feeling comfortably plump.

"Alright everyone!" Ginny said, getting up with a small groan that made the others chuckle and waving a dangly Santa hat around to make sure she had everyone's attention. "You know the drill by now. Pick a name out of the hat and pass it on to the next person. No telling your giftee that you're their Secret Santa," Ginny instructed and as an afterthought added, "I checked the hat myself this year - it won't be biting anyone this time." Another round of chuckles went through the kitchen when Ginny gave Fred and George a stern look as she handed the hat to the person sitting next to her, the two of them feigning innocence. Secret Santa had become a tradition among the adults of the Weasley family a few years ago. With the exception of the occasional mishap with the Santa hat or the one time one of the Weasley twins pulled Hermione (they still weren't telling who it had been), and ended up gifting her their entire line of Wonderwitch products, it had helped to greatly reduce stress around Christmas time for the ever-growing family. Most of the time everyone still got gifts for the other family members who weren't their giftee, but those were small things, such as someone's favourite sweets, a nice pair of socks, or a scarf. The Secret Santa gifts on the other hand tended to have a lot more thought put into them and they generally were of a more personal nature.

It took a while for the hat to finally make its way to Hermione. Feeling giddy, she quickly pulled out a piece of paper and passed the hat on. _The moment of truth_ , she thought to herself. Opening the paper, she saw the name _Fleur_ written on it in Ginny's small, neat handwriting. Hermione let out a long sigh and furrowed her brows. It was notoriously difficult to find Fleur a gift that she liked. Even though Fleur'd been too polite to outright say that she disliked something in the past, they could somehow always tell with her. At her sigh, Sirius, sitting to her right, turned to her and raised his eyebrows, trying to glance at the piece of paper in her hand. Hermione quickly stuffed it into her jeans pocket and with a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth said, "Down, boy."

"Oh please," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes, leaning into her casually, "If you want me to go down on you, the least you could do is use my name."

"Seriously," Hermione muttered, exasperation lacing her voice. It took her a second to realise her mistake. She held up her index finger to shush him and hastily went, "No, no, no!" Sirius grinned at her, looking like Christmas had come early.

"Technically that does contain my name."

"Please stop," Hermione said with a groan. Remus, who was sitting opposite the two of them and had been following their exchange from the other side of the table, snorted and leaned forward a little, deciding to save Hermione by distracting his best friend.

"Hey, Pads, remember the time Lily gave you a dog collar for Christmas?" Sirius head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes at Remus.

For a moment he looked as though he'd flip his friend off, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead he asked, "Was that the same year she got you the flea shampoo?"

"No, the flea shampoo came later. If I remember correctly, the first thing she got was that deer whistle that nearly scared James to death," Remus replied, a smile still on his face as he looked from Sirius to Hermione, the latter now laughing.

"Did it have a tag, so people knew who to return him to?" Hermione asked and Remus' grin widened.

"Of course, said to return him to me or James in case he got lost and to top it all off, Lily had charmed it, so Sirius couldn't take it off for weeks. After a while he used it to get out of classes James and I weren't in though." Still laughing, Hermione looked over at Sirius fondly. He met her gaze and though he tried to act put out, he didn't do too good a job of it.

Shrugging he put his arm around Hermione and said, "Could have broken the charm on it at any time, but it was more fun to annoy Lily for a bit."

"Of course you could have," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. A glance at Remus, who was shaking his head, told her that their friend was fibbing. The three of them would have continued their conversation, but Ginny spoke up as the Santa hat made its way back to her.

"Last name in here is Charlie's - as per usual. I'll give everyone their present during Christmas dinner, so getting your present to me any time before then will be fine." They never told Charlie this, but during desperate times they'd let people swap for that last name in the hat. One year, Fred had come to her because he'd picked George and he didn't think he could keep it a secret from his twin that he was his Secret Santa. Just like every year, Hermione wondered who'd picked her, but her thoughts were quickly dissuaded when Mrs Weasley asked her from the head of the table if her participation in the Secret Santa meant that she'd be around for the holidays. Hermione sighed and said, "Yes, decided to stay for Christmas. I'll be leaving on the 29th though and stay with my parents for New Year's." Mrs Weasley looked satisfied with that, nodding along while she was speaking. When Hermione turned back to Remus and Sirius, Remus was talking to Tonks next to him, but Sirius was watching her.

"What?" she asked, surprised to find him lean in a little bit closer.

"Who will I kiss at midnight then?" Hermione's laughter filled the air once more - sometimes Sirius was just a little bit too obvious. If she ever responded to any of his joking flirtations, she was pretty sure he'd run the other direction. Now, whether he'd be running screaming or not, that she wasn't quite so sure about.

"Not me apparently, but even if I'd been around you wouldn't have kissed me, would you?" she asked once her laughter subsided, raising her eyebrow in a look she'd stolen from McGonagall and perfected only a couple of years ago.

Sirius kept his gaze fixed on her as he replied, his voice low, "Now we'll never know." Even though she knew he wasn't being serious, her heart skipped a beat and a small sigh escaped her. Sirius didn't miss that and slightly embarrassed by her reaction, Hermione turned to Percy, who was sitting on her other side, abruptly ending her conversation with the Marauder. She heard him chuckle as she struck up a conversation with Percy about his and Audrey's plans for New Year's Eve. With Molly and Lucy being five and two respectively, Percy and Audrey had decided to go somewhere snowy, seeing as their little girls loved nothing more than snow. Audrey had also insisted on a holiday away from everyone else, because Percy, much like Hermione, would get sucked back into work between Christmas and New Year's if they stayed at home. Although he had become a little more laid back over the years, particularly since the birth of Lucy, it was still difficult for him to take time off from his job, because he considered it to be so important. Admittedly, he had risen quite a bit in the ranks of the Ministry over the last decade and didn't have to deal with cauldrons' bottom thickness anymore, but it wasn't the kind of position you'd forego holidays with your family for. Then again, who was she to talk.

The evening ended as so many of their get-togethers did nowadays with parents collecting their children as well as various strewn about belongings and toys after they'd cleaned all the dishes. It was utter chaos with everyone flooing and apparating back to their own homes, and Hermione waited for everything to calm down again before she herself left. She was just kissing Mrs Weasley's cheek, thanking her for the wonderful dinner, and giving Mr Weasley a quick hug when Sirius, who was also waiting for the chaos to subside, waved her over.

"Film at my place?" he asked her once she'd come over to him.

"Hmmm," she said, acting as though she had to seriously contemplate if they should have one of their movie nights or not, even though they both knew she'd say yes - she always did. "Only if you promise that you won't put on Dirty Dancing again." For some reason it was one of Sirius' favourite films, and it was one of the few that made her regret getting the TV and DVD player to work in Grimmauld Place and introducing Sirius to DVDs. She had liked the film before - she really had. But if she had to hear the line 'I carried a watermelon' one more time, she couldn't be held responsible for her actions.

Sirius smirked at her and said, "Of course not. It's almost December, so it's time for Love Actually."

"It's not even December yet," Hermione said feebly, although she was actually fine with Love Actually.

"That's why I said almost, love," Sirius said, winking at her before disapparating with a pop the next second, Hermione following him a moment later.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone!_

 _Thanks for reading the first chapter of this new story! My original plan was for this to be just about that one Christmas and this one round of Secret Santa, but then things happened, plans were changed, and this fic just kept on growing, haha._

 _Buckle up, it's going to be a long(ish?) ride c:_


	3. Chapter 2

Hermione apparated straight to the hallway that used to house Walburga Black's portrait, looking around for Sirius and finding him nowhere in sight. He'd probably apparated straight to the living room - that's what she got for being polite. Hanging up her coat and scarf, Hermione's gaze was drawn to the empty spot on the wall once more and she couldn't help but smirk, reminded of the equally exhausting and satisfying afternoon when she'd removed the painting shortly before Harry and Ginny moved into the house.

Sirius had been pleasantly surprised as well when they got him back from the Veil. A reunion with his mother hadn't been on his to-do list after coming back from the dead and he actually dreaded returning to the house that conjured up so many dark memories for him. However, Grimmauld Place was neither grim nor old any longer. In fact, hardly anything in the house was the same, because Harry and Ginny had made sure that it was properly renovated before moving in and living there for a few years. The portrait of Walburga Black had been the only thing they hadn't been able to get rid off, so it had been part of Hermione's move-in present to free them of the picture of Sirius' horrible mother.

One of the added benefits had been that Harry had been extremely grateful and given her free rein over the Black family library. After giving Harry and Ginny a few weeks to properly christen the house, she made good use of the generous offer, often staying over in one of the spare bedrooms. Even after Harry and Ginny had moved out and into a little house in Godric's Hollow, Hermione still spent quite a bit of time in Grimmauld Place - she'd need more than one lifetime to read all the books in the Black family library after all.

Not much had changed with Sirius' return - she could still use the library whenever she wanted (he'd assured her), but on occasion Sirius would spend time in there with her, either reading something himself or trying to distract her and succeeding more often than she cared to admit.

Smiling to herself as the rather fond memories of quiet evenings came to mind, Hermione made her way to the light and airy living room, finding Sirius crouching in front of a shelf filled with DVDs. "Should I make some popcorn?" Hermione asked, standing in the doorway and leaning against the door frame.

"Can't have a movie without popcorn," Sirius replied, looking over at her from his crouching position. "You're having firewhiskey?" he asked as she turned around.

"Yeah, we'll have to think of a drinking game for this one," Hermione said, grinning as she made her way to the kitchen to get some popcorn. They didn't always play drinking games when they had their movie nights, but on occasion one of them would suggest it, particularly when they were re-watching a film. She came back into the living room a few minutes later, carrying a bowl of popcorn to find Sirius sprawled out on the sofa a glass of firewhiskey in his hand, his head tilted back, his eyes half-closed. His t-shirt had ridden up, revealing a stretch of skin above his black jeans and Hermione couldn't help her gaze drifted to the tiny bit of dark ink surely part of a larger tattoo peeking out. When Sirius cleared his throat her eyes snapped back to his face and she tried to ignore the embarrassment she felt at having been caught staring - normally she was so much more inconspicuous.

"Something caught your eye?" Sirius asked as an arrogant smirk appeared on his face, and he stretched a little, revealing some more skin and ink. Hermione rolled her eyes, but felt a blush colouring her cheeks nonetheless.

"Ink," Hermione said simply, sitting down on the sofa after pushing Sirius' feet out of the way to make space for herself. She put the bowl of popcorn in her lap and grabbed the glass of firewhiskey waiting for her on the table. Sirius kept his eyes fixed on her, slowly letting his gaze travel from her face down her body, and Hermione raised her chin, refusing to flounder under his scrutiny. Of course Sirius wasn't the only fit man in his late thirties she knew. Not even the only one covered in tattoos. However, he was the one she spent a considerable amounts of time with, catching glimpses here and there, sometimes even an eyeful when he lounged around in the mornings in nothing but a pair of pyjama bottoms.

When the silence between them drew out uncomfortably, Hermione cleared her throat and asked, "Thought of some rules for the game?" Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it just so. He suggested a few rules such as drinking whenever someone swore or someone said 'actually', and whenever someone wore a Christmas jumper, other Christmas paraphernalia or a turtleneck. Hermione herself suggested drinking whenever 'Christmas is All Around You' played, when the music swelled at emotional moments, every time Sarah's phone went off, storylines crossed or the Prime Minister was being awkward.

They clinked their glasses together and sipped from their drinks immediately when Sirius started the film. Hermione grabbed a handful of popcorn and popped her feet on the coffee table, passing the bowl over to Sirius. The two of them watched in silence, sipping from their drinks occasionally. After a while Sirius' feet ended up in her lap and the popcorn bowl on his stomach more permanently.

"Such a lap dog," she muttered, glancing down at his feet. A chuckle left Sirius' lips at her words and he shrugged as their attention was drawn back to the film. They had reached the part where Sarah and Karl danced at the Christmas party and were about to have their almost hook-up in her flat. Hermione sighed when Sarah's phone rang the first time (sip), then the second time (another sip), and because the whole thing always seemed so fucking miserable she finished the rest of her drink for good measure, refilling her glass right away. Sirius watched her, had focused on her as soon as she'd finished her drink and grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey.

"Why their story?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and glancing at the telly as another one of the characters stripped, showing off some bright red lacy underwear.

"Because it's the one that doesn't work out. It's just so unfortunate. Of course in real life most relationships don't last, but this is a romantic feel-good film and yet it throws that weirdly realistic relationship or failure of one into the mix." Hermione was gesturing at the TV, her brows furrowed and her lips pressed together tightly in frustration.

"There is that other guy who's in love with his best friend's wife," Sirius reminded her and Hermione shook her head, sending her frizzy curls flying.

"There is, but it's infinitely less tragic because Sarah and Karl could so easily be happy with each other if it weren't for the fact that she feels so bloody responsible for her brother." When she looked over at Sirius he was smiling at her, which irritated her for some reason. She asked, "Do you not see that?"

"I do, but at the end of the day it's a film and most of the other storylines have happy endings." Hermione wrinkled her nose and hummed, focusing back on the screen. It took her a while to relax again, but once she did, she and Sirius started chatting about this and that as the film ran its course. When the storylines all crossed over at the end of the film they glanced at each other and downed their drinks, laughing afterwards, Hermione betraying just how tipsy she was when she continued giggling even after Sirius' laughter subsided. When the credits started rolling, Hermione let her head fall back against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes, still smiling. Sirius pulled his feet from her lap and when she cracked an eye open, she saw him sit up properly, putting his empty glass on the coffee table, taking Hermione's from her hand and putting it down as well.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled, closing her eyes again and stretching a little, making a small sound. "Mind if I stay over? Don't think I should floo or apparate anymore."

"Sure. Your sheets should still be in your room," Sirius said before asking, "Want to watch something else before heading to bed?" She nodded and they picked out another flick. Sirius sprawled out on the sofa once more, this time putting his head in her lap and with a small smile on her face she ran her finger through his hair. Hermione idly wondered how it could always be so soft, ignoring the little voice in her head that told her to lightly tug at it or truly bury her hands in it.

As the second film ran its course, their evening ended uneventfully as both Hermione and Sirius were too tired and a little too tipsy to have a discussion (or heated argument as their friends liked to call it) about anything of interest. On her way to "her" room, Hermione stopped by the library, grabbing a book before heading to bed. Once under the covers she tried to read, but with the firewhiskey coursing through her veins and the thought of Sirius' soft hair her between her fingers, she couldn't focus on the text in front of her eyes. Her thoughts kept drifting to other situations in which she might have her hands buried in his hair, his head in her lap. Not for the first time a particular fantasy played in her mind and after thinking about it for a moment, she put the book on her nightstand and pushed her hand past the waistband of her knickers. It didn't take her long to get herself off, focused on the image of Sirius' face buried between her thighs, licking and sucking, with her holding on to his hair. She came moaning quietly and taking deep, shuddering breaths, lying there feeling boneless for a while.

No, this wasn't the first time fantasizing about Sirius made her come hard and fast, but hell if she'd tell anyone about her attraction to him.

* * *

The next couple of weeks of work were extremely busy for Hermione, which meant that even though it was only another week and a half until Christmas, she still didn't have any presents for any of her friends and family. Hermione got progressively more annoyed with the situation and ended up taking a day off of work to meet with Ginny and Luna in Hogsmeade to do their Christmas shopping together. Surprisingly the two younger witches were already waiting for her in front of the Three Broomsticks when she arrived, cheeks burning red - mostly from the cold.

"Sorry, sorry. Crookshanks stole my hat," she explained her untypically late arrival. "Had it all the way on top of my kitchen cabinets and wouldn't let go when I tried to accio it." Ginny and Luna chuckled as Hermione hugged them quickly.

"Don't worry, we only just got here ourselves," Ginny said and Luna nodded.

"Ah, good," Hermione smiled, relief visibly washing over her as the tension left her form. "Where do you want to go first?" she asked. Luna suggested starting with Honeydukes and since that was as good a start as any, they made their way over to the sweets shop. They were glad they'd chosen a weekday to do their Christmas shopping because the shop was blessedly devoid of Hogwarts students and other patrons. The only other customers were a few adults, who were most likely here for the same reason as them. Hermione, Ginny and Luna each grabbed a shopping basket by the entrance and looked around the first of the many aisles, grabbing a couple of boxes of sweets as this was the aisle with Honeydukes' bestsellers. Chocolate frogs for example had to be bought every year. Ron still loved them and they were a good small gift whenever they couldn't think of anything else for him - those or Chudley Cannons merchandise. Even now that Ginny was a professional Quidditch player with the Holyhead Harpies he didn't stop rooting for the Chudley Cannons.

"Who did you two pick for Secret Santa?" Hermione asked after a while when they were looking around the section housing the stranger sweets in Honeydukes inventory, including chocolate coated insects and the like. On occasion Fred and George enjoyed these (years of testing their own inventions on each other must have taken its toll) and Bill didn't really mind them either, having tried even stranger foods on his travels in the past.

"I picked Mum," Ginny said and smirked. "I bought the new Celestina Warbeck album for her. I'm sure she'll enjoy that." Hermione looked at Ginny in shock and even Luna had raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"She'll be playing it for weeks," Hermione whispered, but Ginny just shrugged and grinned.

"Mum'll be happy." Hermione studied her friend's face for a moment and sighed before grabbing some Sugared Butterfly Wings and Fudge Flies to give to the twins.

"Fair enough. What about you, Luna?" Luna had picked up a box of cockroach clusters and was reading the back, but looked up at the mention of her name.

"Oh, I picked Charlie. I got him a charm to keep fire imps away," Luna said, putting the box of cockroach clusters back on the shelf. "There's meant to be loads of them wherever dragons are breeding." Hermione and Ginny exchanged a glance, but didn't say anything - Charlie had never mentioned fire imps before and Hermione had never read about them, but since Luna had managed to discover Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in Sweden a few years ago as well as a whole array of other magical creatures, maybe these were another one of her discoveries.

"Who did you pick then?" Ginny asked and Hermione wrinkled her nose. "That bad?"

"Fleur," Hermione said and Ginny and Luna gave her sympathetic looks as they walked through another aisle.

"Have you found a present for her yet?" Ginny asked and Hermione shook her head.

"I was thinking jewellery, but most stuff looks so clunky on her." Hermione ran a hand through her hair and looked at the other two women, the question visible in her eyes.

"We can stop by _On The Rocks_ later if you like," Ginny suggested. On The Rocks Jewellery & Antiquities had opened in Hogsmeade after the war. The whole Hogsmeade high street had expanded quite a bit over the last decade - it now also housed a branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes; a small toy shop that sold magical board games and toys as well as Muggle ones; an ice cream parlour that closed during the winter months, but was exceptionally popular during the summer; as well as a few clothing shops and boutiques in addition to Gladrags Wizardwear, which had been there since before the war. They left Honeydukes a half hour later, each of them carrying a bag filled with sweets intended as presents for the various family members or stocking fillers for the kids.

Their next stop was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and although they didn't buy much there, they had a nice chat with Fred and George while there was an unusual lull in customers. Just as they were leaving, Lee Jordan sauntered in and was greeted enthusiastically by Fred - or was it George? The twins had let their hair grow out quite a bit after the war, so even with George's ear missing it was near impossible to tell the two apart. Hermione, Ginny and Luna waved at the trio before bracing the cold and wind once more to stroll over to the next shop. It was a couple of hours and a whole bunch of shops later that they stopped by the Three Broomsticks for a late lunch. The last stop after that would be On The Rocks which Hermione had high hopes for as far as a gift for Fleur was concerned.

On The Rocks Jewellery & Antiquities was run by Padma and Parvati Patil. While Padma's main responsibility were the antiquities, Parvati's focus was the jewellery side of the business, even designing and selling her own pieces. Upon entering the shop they were greeted by a light interior that slowly shifted to deeper colours about halfway through the shop, marking the shift from jewellery to antiquities section. Parvati was sitting behind a counter with an employee of theirs, the two of them chatting about something or another. When the little bell above the door chimed, their heads turned towards the entrance and they greeted Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Hermione walked over to the counter, while Ginny and Luna waved at Parvati and the other woman and went off to browse in the antiquities section of the shop.

"Hi, Parvati. You alright?" Hermione said as she walked up to her old classmate.

"Yeah, fine, and you? Doing your Christmas shopping?" Hermione nodded and looked down at the jewellery on display. The pieces on display, while beautiful, were all rather chunky, and decidedly not what she was looking for. With a small sigh she said, "I'm looking for something for Fleur actually. Possibly a bracelet. I'm thinking something a little more delicate though." Parvati tapped her finger against her mouth and hummed.

"Definitely. These bracelets would look much too big on her. Come along!" she said, coming out from behind the counter and walking over to another group of glass cases. The jewellery in those was much daintier, using delicate chains and metal work, and a few featured tiny stones set in them.

"These are more like it?" Parvati asked, with a knowing smile on her face and Hermione chuckled.

"Most certainly." She studied the pieces in the glass case right in front of her - there were several pretty necklaces with small flower-like pendants that she was sure Fleur wouldn't mind, but what caught her eye was a bracelet that had a name in cursive on a thin gold chain.

"Could you make a bracelet like that with several names looping around?" Hermione asked, pointing out the bracelet that had caught her eye.

Parvati looked momentarily confused and asked, "You mean without a chain and instead the names make up the bracelet?"

"Exactly! Could that work?" Parvati got her wand out and started moving it through the air in slow, deliberate motions, almost as if she was conducting music. Flowing blue strands of light formed and twisted, turning into a model of a swirly looking bracelet. She held her hand out below the model after a while, putting her wand away again and twisting and turning the model with her hand instead. Hermione looked at her former classmate impressed and a little stunned because of how quickly Parvati had understood what she meant.

"I've only used Fleur's name for this to give you an idea of what it could look like. If you'd like a bracelet like this with different names just leave a list and I'll come up with a way to link them."

"This is amazing, Parvati. I'd like to have it be her name, Bill's, and the names of their children." Parvati nodded as Hermione explained her request. "How long would it take you to make a bracelet like that and how much would it be?" Grabbing a book from under one of the counters, Parvati flipped through it for a couple of minutes. While she tried to come up with as accurate an estimate as possible, Hermione's eyes fixed on the model once more.

"I have a few other orders to work on before Christmas, but I'd make sure you get it by the 22nd or 23rd. As for the price; a bracelet like that comes to 8 galleons." The model was still floating by Parvati's head and its glowing form had attracted Ginny and Luna, the latter of which commented, "Oh, pretty."

"Works for me. Do I pay upfront or is the payment split?"

"Whichever you prefer, we offer both options." Hermione left the list with names and paid upfront, fairly certain that Parvati would deliver a quality product. Thanking the other witch, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna left the shop after Luna had paid for a lamp she'd found among a bunch of other dusty pieces. Ginny and Luna came along to Hermione's place for a post-shopping present-wrapping session. It took them the better part of the afternoon and quite a bit longer than anticipated to finish up because they chatted and laughed away and spent a while entertaining Crookshanks with the wrapping paper and ribbon. However, Crookshanks was an old man and nowadays you could only entertain him so long; after a while he grew tired of their shenanigans and withdrew to her guest bedroom, where he usually snoozed the day away on the bed.

With the distraction of Crookshanks gone, it didn't take them much longer to finish wrapping their presents and when Ginny and Luna left, Hermione levitated her pile of presents into the guest bedroom, stashing them in the closet. Grinning to herself, she felt like she'd been very productive that day, getting all her presents in order. On the way out of the room, she scratched Crookshanks behind his ears and left the door very slightly ajar, so he could get in and out as he liked while still having his peace and quiet

Hermione was about to change into her pyjamas when her doorbell rang. Figuring it would be Ginny or Luna, she asked, "Forgot something?" as she opened the door. Seeing as it was neither Ginny nor Luna, she was momentarily stunned, but a wide grin quickly spread on her face when she saw Charlie Weasley standing outside her door.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone!_

 _Posting this a bit earlier than planned because I currently have time off work and am planning on getting quite a bit of writing for this story done while I'm back home in Germany c:  
Next chapter shall make abundantly clear just why this story is M-rated ;) _

_Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think~_


	4. Chapter 3

Charlie Weasley stood in her doorway, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and looking at her with his usual easy smile. Hermione stepped aside to let him into her flat and asked, "What are you doing here? No one mentioned you'd be getting back today!" Charlie walked past her, dropping his bag and hanging up his jacket, looking back at her.

"No one knows I'm here yet. Thought I'd come back a bit earlier to get you to myself for a couple of days."

"Missed me that much?" she asked with a laugh, closing the door and leaning against it as Charlie walked over to her. He stepped close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body, could pick up on the smell of his soap - or his shampoo perhaps? -, fresh and sharp like oranges, could spot the darker flecks of brown in his blue eyes.

Carefully he pushed a strand of hair out of her face, behind her ear, and said, "Of course. When was the last time? New Year's?" They both knew perfectly well when they'd last been together, but at the mention of it, memories flashed through her mind and made her heart beat faster. Sex while everyone else was otherwise preoccupied and watching the fireworks, a quickie in the early hours of the morning when there was no chance of anyone finding out about them, another few stolen minutes in a dark corner in Grimmauld Place, the thrill of nearly getting caught making it _that_ much better.

Hermione ran her hands over Charlie's chest, wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, "Too long." Standing on her tiptoes, she captured Charlie's lips with hers, not wasting any time being soft or chaste when she knew how little time they usually had together.

At first Charlie returned her kiss hungrily, pressing her against the door, but after a second he pulled back, frowning and belatedly asking, "You're not seeing anyone right now, right?"

When he broke the kiss, Hermione made a small sound of disappointment, but at his words laughter bubbled from her lips and she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Would I have kissed you if I was seeing anyone? No, I'm not. All yours to do with as you please." Her voice dropped at the last part and the glint in Charlie's eyes told her he'd take her up on that - later. For now he kissed her again, determined, but slower than before. His calloused hands, finding their way under her jumper, left her skin tingling as he ran them up her stomach to her breasts, pushing her bra up in the process. She arched her back into his touch, moaning into the kiss when he lightly pinched her nipples.

It didn't take long for Hermione to pull back, lips swollen and pupils dilated, and say, "Come on, let's at least get to the living room." Charlie let himself be pulled along and pushed onto her sofa by her, using the few seconds before Hermione straddled him to rid himself of his jumper. Chuckling, Hermione followed his example, throwing her jumper and bra somewhere to the side. Charlie gave her an appreciative look and grabbed her arse, pulling her against him, and Hermione buried her hands in his hair, nipping his bottom lip. As they kissed, Hermione trailed her fingers over Charlie's scars and tattoos, lingering on all the ones that were new to her. A particularly large scar made her pull back, but before she could ask about it, Charlie kissed along her neck, sucking hard on a spot just above her shoulder, sure to leave a mark.

"Fuck," Hermione hissed, closing her eyes as his teeth grazed her skin and tilting her head to the side. Craving more of him, needing to feel more, she ground her hips against Charlie's. He grinned against her skin and quickly unbuttoned her jeans, pulled them down over her hips, just far enough to push his hand past the waistband and run his fingers over the damp spot on her knickers. Hermione sucked in a breath, then chuckled, and he pulled back, a grin still on his face. "What a tease," she said, making Charlie laugh.

"Tease? Me? Never!" He feigned innocence while his eyes roamed over her body in a way that showed he was anything but. Hermione laughed and before he could pull her against him again, she got up from his lap, pulling off her jeans to reveal a pair of polka dot knickers.

Charlie's grin widened. "Polkadots?" he asked as he unbuttoned his own trousers and kicked them off.

"Didn't plan on getting naked with anyone today, did I?" she asked, shrugging as she straddled Charlie once more. She moved her hips in slow circles, enjoying the feel of his boxer-clad erection against her, Charlie following her rhythm.

"They're cute," he said with a small moan, trailing his fingers over her shoulders and breasts, one hand remaining to rub his thumb over her nipple, while his other hand moved to the waistband of her knickers, fingers only just dipping past it. "Suit you."

"If you say so." Hermione laughed breathlessly and moaned as he pinched her nipple again when their hips moved against each other _just so_ , sending a jolt of pleasure through her body. Words quickly made way for breathy moans from Hermione as Charlie pushed her knickers aside, his fingers rubbing over her clit with every movement of her hips and she picked up her pace, grinding against them without reserve.

Hermione ran one of her hands down his body, over the sparse red hair that trailed from his bellybutton past the waistband of his boxers, and whispered a spell that left the palm of her hand slick with lube. Pushing his boxers out of the way, she wrapped it around his cock, squeezing him slightly. Charlie hissed and bucked his hips in response to the sudden contact and she couldn't help but grin. Raising an eyebrow at her, Charlie pushed two of his fingers into her, eliciting another moan from her as her head fell back and she bit her bottom lip. He really knew her too well - within minutes she was writhing against him on the precipice of pure bliss.

The closer he got her, the harder it was for her to keep up the steady pace she'd set with her hand. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile and she moaned, "yes, yes, yes" when Charlie's fingers rubbed over her clit at the same time as his thumb over her nipples. Her brows knitted together and she had a hard time holding Charlie's gaze, so focused on how _close_ she was. She came with a shuddering moan, Charlie's name on her lips as pleasure washed over her. Coming down from her high, breathing heavily and with her thighs still trembling, she began pumping Charlie's cock once more, marvelling at how hard he was in her hand. Holding her gaze, Charlie pulled his hand away from her soaking knickers and brought his wet fingers up to his mouth, licking them clean - the sight and obscenity of it sending a pleasant shiver down her spine.

"God, when you do that," she said, untangling her hand from his hair and running her thumb over his bottom lip. Chuckling, Charlie pulled her hand away and leaned up to kiss her. She could taste herself when their tongues slid against each other and she moaned, reminded of the other times she'd tasted herself like this. Hermione broke the kiss to suck on Charlie's neck, biting down hard once before moving down his body until she knelt between his legs, licking her lips when she let her gaze travel from his cock up to his face. His lips slightly parted, Charlie watched her tug his boxers down further and run her hands over his thighs.

"Oh, fuck me," he moaned the moment she licked along the underside of his cock, his hands tangling in her hair. Smiling to herself, Hermione sucked his head into her mouth, swirling her tongue around it while her hand pumped along his shaft once again. She enjoyed the way Charlie moaned and bucked his hips, always so responsive when she wrapped her lips around him.

"Fuck, Hermione, I love the way you use that pretty little mouth of yours," Charlie muttered between moans that slipped past his lips with increasing frequency.

"Never get tired of you. Oh Merlin, so fucking close." Hermione closed her eyes, humming around Charlie's cock at his words and cupping his balls with her free hand. Charlie came undone moaning her name and tugging at her hair, but she kept sucking his cock. Only after she'd swallowed all of his cum did she pull back and grin up at him. The expression on his face was one of bliss even as he was trying to catch his breath. Feeling her eyes on him, he opened his eyes and tugged at her arms, pulling her back into his lap and enveloping her in his arms.

From experience she knew that it wouldn't take either of them long to want another round and sucking Charlie off had done nothing to curb her own arousal. She peppered kisses along his jaw before locking lips with him again and wrapping her arms around his neck. Just as she thought they'd settle on the sofa, Charlie carried her to her bedroom, the two of them tumbling onto her bed and laughing as they broke their kiss.

"Getting too old for my sofa?" Hermione asked, pushing the hair out of Charlie's face once they were cuddled up in the middle of her bed.

"Not getting too old for anything," Charlie said, pushing her onto her back rather quickly and pinning her to the mattress, nipping at her neck. "How could you even suggest such a thing?" he asked, his lips moving against her skin, but he didn't manage to keep the grin off his face when he pulled back and held her gaze.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because it's your birthday today and you're much closer to fourty than thirty," Hermione teased, taking Charlie's face into her hands. "Happy Birthday, Charlie. I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier, you rather managed to surprise me." Charlie chuckled and shook his head.

"Don't worry. You did send a card after all." He gave her a quick peck on the lips before trailing kisses down her body all the way to her thighs. Charlie pulled down her knickers and lightly blew on her slick folds, sending a shiver down her spine. Hermione held her breath as Charlie placed the softest kisses along her inner thigh, slowly moving back to her center, where she really wanted to feel his mouth and tongue.

"Charlie," she sighed as he moved on to her other thigh instead, peppering kisses along there. She was so tempted to bury her hands in his hair and buck her hips. "Please," she moaned when he sucked on her thigh. So close, yet so far. Chuckling, Charlie kissed the spot he'd just sucked on, drawing out the moment of expectation impossibly for Hermione. Waiting for him to finally give in, Hermione held her breath, gasping when he ran his tongue over her folds at last.

Licking her tantalisingly slowly, Hermione tried to push herself against him, but he simply held her down, sticking to his pace. Pinned down as she was all she could do was to lie back and enjoy the way Charlie's tongue circled her clit, the way he closed his lips around it and sucked, the light grazing of his teeth. Moaning and spreading her legs further, she threaded her fingers through Charlie's hair.

The only sounds filling Hermione's room were her panting and soft moans as Charlie lapped at her, pushing her slowly but steadily towards another orgasm. With every moan she lightly tugged at his hair before running her fingers through the soft strands that were just long enough to bury her hands in them. Whenever she tugged, she could feels Charlie's shoulders flex against her thighs, could feel him grin against her. Looking down and meeting his eyes, her core throbbed because of the intensity of his gaze. When he was sure she was watching him, he pressed his face even closer, his eyes falling shut as if he thoroughly enjoyed tasting her.

"Fuck, Charlie, you're gonna be the death of me," she moaned, trying in vain to buck her hips again when he pushed two fingers into her while sucking on her clit. He was keeping her just on the edge, pulling back a little every time he realised she was about to come. Thrusting his fingers into her more slowly and kissing along her thigh, Charlie was clearly toying with her. A disappointed groan escaped her when Charlie kissed her other thigh instead of focusing his attention back where she wanted it. "I'm so close," she huffed and Charlie laughed, his hot breath puffing against her.

When he finally decided to push her over the edge, his mouth and tongue fast and insistent, it felt as though her heart was going to explode in her chest beating as fast as it did. She grabbed at his hair and as his hold on her hips loosened she pushed even closer to him, riding out her orgasm, moaning his name over and over. Charlie teasingly continued to lick her, making her legs twitch as she tried to wiggle away from him. Tugging at his hair, she looked down at his face, the dragon keeper cocking his eyebrow at her and asking, "Bit sensitive?"

"A bit, yeah," she said with a breathless laugh and Charlie moved up her body, lying on top of her. She took his face in his hands, kissing him before trailing her fingers down his shoulders and his back. Entangling her legs with his, Charlie's weight and warmth on top of of her made her feel safe. They remained wrapped up like this, pressing their lips against each other in soft kisses for a while until Charlie began rubbing his hardening cock against her. Pushing against his chest, Charlie gave her an inquisitive look, but pulled away and she flipped over onto her stomach, wiggling her arse a little.

Chuckling, Charlie bent over her and with his breath ghosting over her ear, asked, "How do you want me to take you?" Before she could reply, however, he'd already nudged her legs apart and pushed into her with one hard thrust. "Hard and fast?" he asked before sucking on her neck.

"Hard and fast," she whispered, her eyes falling shut as she tipped her head back. Charlie buried one hand in her hair, pulling her back further and capturing her lips in a bruising kiss. He set a fast pace, pounding into her and leaving her neck covered in love bites. They had their tender moments from time to time, but sooner or later they always ended up like this - letting go completely and fucking roughly.

* * *

Hermione and Charlie sat on opposite ends of her sofa, both of them clad in boxers and t-shirts and tucking into Chinese food (Hermione's treat). They were chatting away about the last few months because with life getting in the way they hadn't been in touch as often as they would have liked. Charlie had already told her all about the dragons she'd gotten to know and helped take care of during her short time in Romania all those years ago. Back then she'd mainly worked with the freshly hatched dragons, because she didn't need as much training to work with them and besides, she'd had the least contact with the flu-infected, full-grown dragons, so less of a chance to pass something on. From what he was saying, everything seemed to be going swimmingly, but there was something about the way he spoke about the reserve that made her worry.

"Must be pretty quiet at the moment if they let you leave over a week before Christmas," Hermione said, stretching her legs out and popping a dumpling into her mouth. Charlie poked at his food with his fork, avoiding her gaze and she raised her eyebrows, asking, "What is it?"

"It is pretty quiet at the moment," Charlie said, finally looking at her. "But they've also told me to take the rest of my holiday because they're promoting me in the new year."

Hermione's eyes widened a little and she burst out, "Oh, that's amazing. Congratulations!" Charlie smiled softly, but he still wasn't looking at ease, which made her furrow her eyebrows. "Why aren't you excited about it?" Charlie's smile fell. He put his container of Chinese food on her coffee table and ran his hands through his hair, looking a little lost.

"I think Mum was hoping I'd take a job at one of the British reserves soon, and now I'll be staying in Romania even longer." Hermione sighed and put her food aside as well, moving over to Charlie and taking his face in her hands.

"It's an amazing opportunity for you. She'll come around." Hermione stroked her thumbs over his cheekbones, smiling at him. Of course Mrs Weasley would be happy if Charlie ever decided to move back to the UK (as would be the rest of the family), but he'd been in Romania for so many years already and really, if he was happy there that should be all that mattered.

Charlie took her hands in his and tugged her forward. "Here's hoping. Make me forget about it a little while longer?" Hermione's smile fell and she pulled back as soon as she'd tumbled against Charlie's chest.

"Is that why you showed up at my place and didn't go straight home?" she asked, her cheeks reddening with the sudden realisation that he was simply avoiding a confrontation with Mrs Weasley. Charlie gaped at her and shook his head.

"Of course not, I would have shown up on your doorstep either way. You know I enjoy spending time with you whenever I can," Charlie said, rubbing small circles over the back of her hand with his thumb. "And yeah, maybe it's an added benefit that I don't have to worry about an argument with Mum for a little longer, but first and foremost, I'm here for you." Hermione hummed, but she didn't seem wholly convinced. She sat back and picked up her food again, finishing the last bits of it.

"You can convince me of that later," she said after a moment, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Charlie laughed, shaking his head and finishing off his own portion of Chinese food in record time.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone!_

 _I have to admit, I was a bit anxious about finishing and posting this chapter - I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think c:  
_

 _Next week I'll be attending a wedding, so even though I currently have time off from work, I think the update will have to wait until the week after. Will have to see how things go, I hope you understand! I'm still a few chapters ahead, but I'd like to build up a bit more of the story in advance still for when I'll undoubtedly be busy at work again. Adult life, I tell you..._

 _Either way - I hope y'all have a good weekend!_


	5. Chapter 4

The next morning, the smell of coffee woke Hermione and with a sigh she stretched out under her covers. The humming coming from her kitchen made her smile as she pulled her blanket closer - just a few more seconds, although she didn't want to make Charlie wait for too long. The first few days back home, he always had a hard time sleeping in, his work hours from the reserve too ingrained. The first time she'd woken up to him making breakfast in her kitchen she'd been surprised, but she'd quickly gotten over it and it had become a bit of a ritual for them over the years. Rolling out of bed, Hermione shivered slightly as the cold air hit her skin. She quickly shuffled into her bathroom and went for a shower.

Not even fifteen minutes later, she walked into the kitchen, wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and was pulling her hair into a messy ponytail. Looking over Charlie, who had his back turned to her, she felt overdressed, seeing as he was still only wearing a pair of boxers. "Aren't you cold?" Hermione asked, walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around him.

Charlie stopped humming and chuckled as he poured her a cup of coffee. "Nah, running hot, as always," he said, turning around and kissing her softly. Hermione hummed against his lips, but pulled back when Charlie's stomach grumbled, laughing at the sheepish look on his face.

"Thanks for preparing breakfast," she said, giving him another quick peck on the lips and taking the mug he handed her.

Charlie grabbed his own coffee (of course he'd picked her Mushu mug for himself) and walked over to the small wooden kitchen table that was only just big enough for three or four people, saying, "Oh, psh. I couldn't sleep anyway." A comfortable silence settled over the two of them as they ate and Hermione flipped through the _Daily Prophet_. The articles in the paper were still hit-and-miss, but on occasion some of the younger journalists managed to dig up interesting or relevant stories and even managed to get them published among the rubbish normally found in there.

"Anything interesting in there today?" Charlie asked once she'd skimmed through the paper and he'd finished eating, leaning back in his chair, coffee mug in hand. Hermione looked up at him, mouth open because she'd been about to take a bite of her toast and shook her head.

"Nope, nothing much going on at the moment, it seems." Shrugging and finishing her toast off with a couple of bites, she mirrored his pose, leaning back in her chair and sipping from her coffee. Mulling over her previous plans for the weekend, she asked, "Is there anything you want to do today?"

Charlie cocked an eyebrow at her, his eyes sparkling with barely contained amusement. "You."

Hermione laughed and said, "Other than that, because that's kind of a given at this point." Charlie chuckled, running a hand through his hair.

"Nothing in particular then," he said, smiling softly, "Just a lazy day unless you've got other plans?" Hermione shook her head and with both of them perfectly content to have a day just to themselves, they finished their coffees in peace and cleared the table. Hermione was just putting the cleaned plates back on their shelf in a cabinet when Charlie walked up behind her, putting his hands on her hips and trailing his lips over her neck. Her body reacted immediately, a sigh leaving her lips and her head tilting to the side, baring more of her skin for him. She closed the cabinet door and put her hands on Charlie's, pressing her body flush against his as he sucked on one of the love bites from the previous night. When she turned around, he grabbed her hips, setting her on the counter and kissing her softly.

"I've really missed this," she sighed against his lips, leaning back to pull her t-shirt over her head and throwing it to the side.

"Me too," Charlie said with a grin, raising his brows because she'd skipped putting on a bra.

Smirking at his reaction, Hermione said, "Figured I wouldn't really need it." Laughing, Charlie ran his hands over her body, capturing her lips in another kiss and grinding against her. While she wrapped her arms around his neck, nipping at Charlie's bottom lip, he pushed down her sweats, laughing once more when he realised she wasn't wearing knickers either.

"I'm starting to believe all you think I'm good for is sex," Charlie teased her, his fingers trailing over her and circling her clit slowly.

Hermione chuckled, running her hands down Charlie's back and grabbing his arse. "Whatever gave you that idea, love?" she asked. "I'm _very_ interested in your view on the extent to which dragon legislature in the UK has developed independently of that on the continent. Say, over the last century?" She pushed down Charlie's boxers and let her gaze travel from his face all the way down to his groin. Charlie's rumbling laughter filled her kitchen again and she couldn't help but grin, her eyes snapping back up to his face.

"Keep talking dirty to me, why don't you?" Charlie pushed a finger into her, crooking it just so, as she wrapped her hand around his cock and they moved together, slowly, taking their time, their foreheads pressed against each other. When Hermione's eyes fluttered shut and her walls clenched around Charlie's fingers, he pulled them out, only to replace them with his cock, lazily thrusting into her, while her hands landed on his shoulders, her nails digging into them as her orgasm seemed to go on and on while Charlie fucked her.

Charlie came with a groan, biting down on her shoulder and she hissed, wrapping her legs even tighter around his hips. He kissed the spot a second later and tried to pull away, but Hermione held him close, snorting as he mumbled about being sweaty. "We can just take a shower in a little bit, but I like this. The afterglow? Aftermath?" When their eyes met, matching grins appeared on their faces and Hermione ran her hands through Charlie's hair.

"So shower and then back to bed. I could do with a nap," Charlie said, his grin widening when Hermione nodded.

* * *

Hermione wanted her showers to always consist of someone else dealing with and being infinitely more patient with her hair than she could ever be. Charlie stood under the spray of hot water as he rubbed shampoo and conditioner into her hair, rinsing each out after the appropriate time and threading his fingers through her curls that seemed to behave slightly better than when she dealt with the mass of hair. Once they were both out of the shower and towelled off, Hermione saw the glint in Charlie's eye, but she didn't react quickly enough. She squealed when he threw her over his shoulder and took her back to her adjoined bedroom, throwing her on her bed, where she tried to look as though she was cross with him, only to start laughing when he flopped down on the bed next to her.

"Now you've done it, that woke me right up again," Hermione said, still laughing, but curling into Charlie's side, and pulling the covers over them as he wrapped his arms around her.

"That's too bad. Guess I'll have to tell you a bedtime story?" he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"The one where the knight in shining armour, bearing a striking resemblance to Hagrid, saves all the dragons in the land from all the evil wizards and witches?" Hermione asked, another chuckle escaping her and Charlie laughed as well.

"Don't you ruin story time!" Turning on his side, he kept his gaze fixed on her face, both their eyes twinkling with mirth. Before Charlie, she'd never been with anyone she could actually _laugh_ with while naked. Back then she didn't know what she was missing out on. It didn't take long for Hermione and Charlie to be laughing again, holding each other close in their fit of giggles at this comment or that - there was no need to rush now that they'd decided to spend the whole day together, after all.

"Hermione! Charlie! Are you coming out of there any time soon?" Hermione and Charlie's laughter died and their eyes widened before they looked at her bedroom door in shock. _Oh shit_.

"What's she doing here?" Charlie whispered, jumping out of bed and hastily pulling on some clothes, his heart hammering in his chest as he did so.

"I have no idea! She wasn't meant to come over today," Hermione whispered back. She kicked her covers away, got up and followed Charlie's example, pulling on clothes as quickly as she could.

"I know you two are in there! I think we should have a talk. I'll wait in the living room," the person on the other side of the door said. A couple of minutes later, when they were finally fully clothed again, Hermione and Charlie stared at each other, the shock still visible on their features.

"What are we going to tell her?" Charlie asked, his heart only just slowing down again and pulling Hermione closer to him. Hermione shrugged, a frown forming on her face as she mulled over their options.

"We could tell her the truth," she said, wrapping her arms around his body and although he seemed just as tense as her, he enveloped her in a hug.

Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he thought about that for a little while, but then asked, "And what would that be, love?"

"We've been been having fun with each other for years whenever we were single, but that's all it ever was and all it'll ever be." Her voice was muffled because she buried her face in his chest, but he'd heard her. His arms tightened around her and she could feel him nod in response. They remained like this for a good minute, not even a trace of their previous bliss left over. Hermione was the one to push away from Charlie, taking a deep breath and smiling at him weakly.

The two of them left her bedroom and walked back into her living room, where Ginny was sitting on her sofa, her face not betraying what was going through her head. For some reason, probably to embarrass them, Ginny had collected their strewn about clothing and placed in on her coffee table, folded neatly. Charlie sat down on the sofa next to Ginny, while Hermione sat down in one of her armchairs and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to ask my brother that actually," Ginny said, turning to Charlie, her mask slipping as she glared at him. "Last I knew you were only getting here the day _after_ tomorrow."

"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision by my boss to let me leave this morning," Charlie said and though Hermione knew for a fact that he was lying, he seemed pretty damn convincing.

"Is that so?" Disbelief coloured Ginny's voice as her narrowed eyes focused on Hermione instead and she asked, "So how long have you and my brother been shagging?" Hermione winced. Ginny wasn't being vicious, her tone at odds with her choice of words. She sounded almost disappointed and Hermione could tell that Ginny's pissed off expression was mostly there to mask her hurt.

"Christmas 2002."

Ginny's jaw dropped at that and she exclaimed, "Six fucking years? You've never mentioned this _once_ in over _half a decade_?" All three of them were quiet for a moment and before Hermione could even try to make an excuse, Ginny continued, "Wait! Is that why you haven't had a serious relationship since Theo?" Hermione paled and Charlie looked over at her curiously, both his eyebrows having shot up at Ginny's question. Their deal had always been that they were friends with benefits - nothing more than that.

Hermione rubbed a hand over her face, trying to find the right words. "You know I've dated since then. It's just never been... right. There's nothing wrong with me and Charlie having some fun in the meantime."

"Of course there isn't. You know that I'm all for you enjoying yourself, letting your hair down and all that, but why did you never tell me?" Ginny had focused completely on Hermione, ignoring that Charlie was still sitting next to her. Charlie meanwhile was keeping quiet so as not to draw Ginny's attention to him again. Hermione took a deep breath, looking around her living room and shrugging helplessly.

"It doesn't make much sense now that I actually think about it. I suppose some of the thrill was that no one else knew. Including you." A memory of their first time after Christmas and New Years in Romania flashed through her mind. They'd told each other when she left that what happened in Romania would stay in Romania and they wouldn't hook up again whenever they saw each other next. March 2003 brought along George's wedding though and she'd worn a much more revealing dress than she normally would have, knowing full well that Charlie would be there. If she was honest, she'd even bought it with him on her mind.

The whole reception she'd felt his eyes on her, but she'd avoided him, was constantly _just_ out of reach. Charlie had gotten his chance later that night though, grabbing her when she was walking from the marquee in the garden of the Burrow over to the house. He'd pulled her along into a wild orchard not too far from the house to press her against one of the trees, dropping to his knees in front of her and burying his face between her thighs. That anyone could have caught them, but no one did made it just that much better.

A small movement from Charlie caught her eye and she met his gaze. Curiosity was still visible in his eyes, and he raised his eyebrows at her once more. She shook her head ever so slightly - with Ginny here, she didn't want to have _that_ conversation. Charlie sighed and relaxed into his corner of the sofa. Ginny, having caught the exchange, furrowed her brows and huffed.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Charlie!" Ginny's tone was reminiscent of Mrs Weasley and just for a moment Charlie looked terrified, but then he laughed.

"Come on, Gin. Everything Hermione and I did was consensual and certainly none of my baby sister's business. You don't see me asking about your sex life with Harry." Ginny cocked an eyebrow at Charlie.  
"The difference being that Harry isn't one of your best friends you see on an almost daily basis and have for the last, oh, I don't know, fifteen years or so." Hermione groaned, pulling up her knees to her chest and dropping her head on them.

"I'm sorry," Hermione's muffled words were hard to make out, but neither Weasley missed them. For some reason Ginny managed to make her feel guilty exceptionally well, even though she knew she and Charlie hadn't done anything _wrong_. Telling Ginny would have been much more awkward than keeping it from her, she tried telling herself. Charlie gave her a pitying look and steered their conversation towards a less uncomfortable topic.

"How come you're here anyway? Hermione didn't expect you, right?" Hermione's head moved as she nodded, still not looking up again.

"Oh, that!" Ginny chuckled. "I forgot one of my presents here yesterday and thought I'd pop over while Harry can keep the children occupied. Although I probably shouldn't stay all that much longer, because Ron was planning on popping 'round as well." Ginny checked the watch on her wrist. "I actually stayed longer than I'd planned to, but at first I thought you two would come out of Hermione's room at some point. And then you didn't _for ages_." Ginny smirked when Hermione and Charlie groaned, but Hermione lifted her head.

"Let me check the presents. Any idea whose you're missing?" Hermione asked and walked off to where she kept her present stash. Ginny yelled after her that she was missing Angelina's present and after looking through the pile of pretty parcels for a few minutes, Hermione came back to the living room, dropping the present in Ginny's lap.

"Thank you," Ginny said with a smile and getting up. "I'll leave you two to it for now. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." With that she winked at them and before disapparating also added, "And Charlie, the kids would love to see their dragon uncle a littler sooner than expected." An uncomfortable silence followed the 'pop' of Ginny's disapparition. Hermione sat down on the other end of the sofa, turned to face Charlie and leaned against the armrest. He turned to her, mimicking her pose and stretched out a hand to her that she gladly took.

"She'll tell Harry," Hermione said, a small sigh following the statement.

"The secret will be out in no time," Charlie added, a sad lopsided smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "Hermione, I've got to ask. Was there anything to what Ginny said? That you haven't had any serious relationships in the last few years because of us, because of this?" The question made her shoulders sag and heart feel heavy. Of course she'd asked herself that question before - every time she declined a date or dumped someone after a couple of months of dating, but she'd always told herself that her time was just too valuable for a shitty relationship or mediocre sex when she knew how good it could be. And she was still attracted to other people - hell, whenever she spent time with Sirius, she couldn't help but wonder what he'd be like in bed. Then again fantasizing and wondering was one thing and completely different from actually acting on it.

Charlie watched her as she contemplated his question, opening her mouth a couple of times before closing it again. With a sigh he pulled her over to him and once in motion she turned and settled between his legs, leaning back against his chest. Strong arms wrapped around her and Charlie put his chin on top of her head. His warmth enveloped her and even though their situation was weird now, it still comforted her.

"I honestly can't tell anymore," Hermione whispered. "I've asked myself this before, but I always thought of being with you as fun and not a replacement for a relationship. I know that we could never have a serious relationship, but you're hot and sex with you is amazing." She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Have you slept with other guys since this started?" Charlie asked, running his hands over her arms.

"Yes, a few. They were... not bad." Hermione didn't add that she always ended up comparing her partners to Charlie. She knew it wasn't fair to them, but she couldn't help it. "As I've said to Ginny though, I'm not sure how much of the appeal was down to no one else knowing about us, this being our secret. Already feels different now that Ginny knows."

"It does," Charlie said. His hands stopped moving for a few moments as he hesitated to tell her something else, and Hermione tensed. "For the record, I've slept with a few other people as well, but far less than I normally would have." Hermione acknowledged the words with a 'hmm' and relaxed once more, snuggling closer to Charlie who held her tight for a moment before moving his hands along her arms again. He didn't stop there though, running them over her shoulders next, her breasts, down her stomach. They landed on her thighs which fell open almost automatically and she could feel her heart rate pick up.

This wasn't a good idea, it really wasn't, but at the same time, she wanted to be with Charlie one last time. Hermione's head dropped back against Charlie's shoulder, giving him a clear view of her body and his hands now moving over her thighs. She put her hands on Charlie's legs as he lightly bit her earlobe, then said, "Tell me what you want." The low whisper right next to her ear sent shivers down her spine and the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think things through.

"I want you to make me come with your fingers, your mouth, I want to feel your lips and teeth. Just when I think I can't take any more, I want you to fuck me from behind, taking me as hard as you want." She heard Charlie suck in a breath at her words - even after all these years she wasn't usually so explicit.

"Your wish is my command," Charlie said after a moment, chuckling as he unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down until she could kick them off. Hermione was about to push down her knickers as well, but Charlie grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her back.

"Not so fast." Her head still tipped back, Charlie used his chance to capture her lips with his as his fingers trailed over her thighs, along the edges of her underwear, and ever so lightly over her center still covered by the thin, silky material of her kickers. Hermione pushed her hips forward ever so slightly, but Charlie seemed determined to take his time with her.

* * *

A few hours later, Hermione stood in her kitchen and swished her wand around to get out bacon, bread, and a frying pan, all of which landed next to her on the counter. They'd had their last hurrah and as Ginny had said, the kids would love to see Charlie early, so he would head over there after they'd had a bite to eat.

Heating up the frying pan and putting on another pot of coffee, Hermione leaned against the counter and waited for the pan to get hot enough to add the bacon. This was the end of her and Charlie. Frowning, Hermione couldn't help but wonder what they'd say to each other. How did one end a friends with benefits relationship that had gone on for years? With a sigh she turned back to her stove and started frying the bacon, waiting for Charlie to come out of her room, dressed and with his duffel bag packed again.

"Do I smell bacon?" Charlie asked, walking into her kitchen and peeking around her at the frying pan. "Awesome!" Hermione turned around, laughing and asked, "Who says you're getting any?" Charlie gasped in mock hurt and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"Too slow." And with those two words he picked two rashers from the pan behind her, plopped them onto one of the plates and grabbed the bread and butter to make himself a sandwich. Hermione meanwhile shook her head and said, "Putting your seeker reflexes to good use I see."

"You know what else I use them for," Charlie retorted with a grin and a wink that made her laugh.

"That I do. Do you want some coffee?" Charlie nodded and put the sandwich he'd been making in her spot before fixing one for himself while she put the two full mugs of coffee on the table. Their conversation died down as they ate their sandwiches, occasionally sipping from their coffee. When they were both finished neither seemed to want to be the first to break the silence - brave Gryffindors indeed. In the end it was Charlie who cracked first and asked, "This is it then? We should stop this?"

"Charlie," Hermione said softly, her smile faltering. "You know I love you. More than you can imagine, but it's not the kind of love to build a relationship on. Maybe it's time to move on. We always knew we'd have to end it one day." Charlie took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes.

"For what it's worth, I love you too. You almost make me want to have a relationship." Much like Charlie, Hermione tried to keep her tears at bay - she didn't want to end this on such a sad note.

"Unfortunately, almost isn't enough." They sat in silence for a little while until Charlie sighed and got up, taking their empty plates to the sink.

"I'll head over to Ginny's, okay?" he asked and she nodded. On the way out of the kitchen, Charlie stopped next to her, kissing the top of her head. "I've enjoyed each and every moment with you, and I wouldn't change any of our time together," he told her quietly as he left. Hermione remained in her seat until she heard the tell-tale pop of Charlie disapparating before getting up and cleaning her dishes by hand through a veil of tears. Once she was done, she rubbed at her cheeks angrily.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Hermione muttered, holding on to the edge of her sink, her head hanging low. She had no interest in a relationship with Charlie, no interest in being in a long-distance relationship with someone with such little concern for their safety and life. Charlie was reckless in his work, always had been, and while she admired the passion he had for his job - she was a passionate person after all and felt similarly about her own work -, she'd had enough danger for a lifetime. She wanted a real partnership, wanted to settle down, wanted to have a family at some point. Just not right away and certainly not when she and Charlie had started things up. One day, maybe. Hermione took another few minutes to calm herself down and once she had, she went to the bathroom to splash some cold water in her face. Much calmer, she went on with her day, settling on her sofa to read, a big mug of hot chocolate in hand.

* * *

 _A/N: Heya everyone!_

 _I'm travelling back to China tomorrow, which is why I'm updating today - pretty sure I'll be too jetlagged to update on Friday. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I'm wondering if the pacing of the story is a bit too slow, so maybe you could let me know what you think c:_

 _Although I might only be worrying about that because I know how much more of it there is to come, haha~_

 _Hope you all have a good rest of the week! Next update should be in a couple of weeks unless work is really very boring and I get enough time edit the next chapter and build up my writing buffer again at the same time lol_


	6. Chapter 5

Hermione's mug, long empty, had been put on her coffee table, her book, long forgotten about, was lying on her chest as she had curled up on her sofa, falling asleep much more easily than she'd expected. A nap would do her some good, she'd decided. Her plans were short-lived, however, when someone knocked on her door and while she was very tempted to ignore the disturbance, whoever was at her door was persistent. With a groan, Hermione got up, dropping the book next to her mug before making her way to the front door, pulling it open and glaring at the person on the other side.

"Movie night?" Sirius asked, a grin on his face, and her expression softened immediately, a small smile tugging on her lips as she took in his dishevelled-looking form.

"If you like," Hermione said and shuffled back to her living room, Sirius following her after he'd closed the door and taken off his shoes and jacket. "Why're you looking such a mess?" she asked once they'd both flopped down on her sofa, giving him another once-over as neither of them made a move to pick out a DVD. It wasn't that he looked bad (no, Sirius Black never looked bad), but his clothes were rather rumpled and his hair looked like he'd been out in a storm.

"I went to see Harry and Ginny this afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I ran into a dragon keeper there, who just loved riling up the pups." Their eyes met and Hermione wondered idly if Sirius knew, and if he did know whether he was judging her or not. His normally so expressive face didn't betray what he was thinking for once.

Hermione furrowed her brows and, instead of taking the bait, asked, "What do you want to watch?"

Disappointment flashed in his eyes before he turned away from her and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "Depends on what you've got," he replied, letting his head drop back against the backrest of the sofa and closing his eyes. Hermione got up and scanned her shelf of DVDs for something that fit her mood.

"The Fast and the Furious alright with you?" For some reason the title caught her eye.

Sirius chuckled and said, "Fast cars and hot birds? Who am I to say no to that?" Hermione snorted, pulling out the DVD, and after turning on her telly and DVD player, she popped the disc into it.

"Not saying no to a drink either?" she asked after a moment, turning back to look at him and he cracked open one of his eyes.

"Have you ever seen me decline a drink before, love?" Hermione summoned a bottle of Ogden's Finest from her liquor cabinet and for a second thought of foregoing the glasses, but then seemed to think better of it and grabbed two glass tumblers. Scrunching up her nose, she tried to remember a time when he had said no to alcohol.

"Well, you've only been back for a year and before then it was different. Anyone would have tried drowning their sorrows in alcohol after what you've been through," Hermione said mildly, filling their glasses and handing one to Sirius as she sat down next to him on the sofa.

"You wouldn't have. Harry wouldn't have." Sirius voice had as edge to it when he said those words and it irked Hermione because none of them would hold his behaviour while he was locked up in Grimmauld Place against him. They all understood how hard that time had been for him.

Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair and said clearly, in a voice that left no room to argue, "We wouldn't even have made it through Azkaban, never mind breaking out of there." Of course, one of the things Sirius loved doing most was to argue with her, but when he opened his mouth, Hermione held up her hand to silence him. "You know I enjoy _talking_ to you, but can we just watch the film? I don't want to have to think about anything."

Sirius gave her an inquisitive look, but nodded and held up his arm, offering her his side to lean against. She curled up against him, allowing herself a little weakness for once. Most of the time, she ended up with Sirius' head in her lap on their movie nights. She could count the times that they'd sat like this on both hands. Usually she didn't mind, but after everything that had happened that day she was feeling a little. Ending things with Charlie was forcing her to re-evaluate what she wanted from life, but hell - she still wasn't even 30 yet. Sighing once more and taking a big sip from her firewhiskey, she focused on the film that had started playing. Nothing like - how had Sirius put it? - fast cars and hot birds to take your mind off of everything.

It was only when the movie ended that Hermione realised she'd had more to drink than she'd thought. A nice warmth was spreading through her body, making her feel pleasantly tipsy, bordering on drunk. The credits were still rolling and she didn't want to get up from her position nestled against Sirius' body. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be in a rush either, so even when the TV faded to black neither of them moved.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sirius asked and Hermione looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, don't give me that look. Ginny told Harry and Harry told Ron, who accidentally let it slip when Charlie showed up. Remus, Tonks, and I happened to pop around Harry and Ginny's at the same time." The look of surprise changed to one of anger as she pressed her lips together and untangled herself from the Marauder.

"There's nothing to talk about. Charlie and I hooked up whenever we were both single, and in the future we won't hook up anymore," Hermione said, her voice tight as she glared at Sirius.

"Why Charlie? Isn't he too old for you?" Sirius asked before adding, "Sex outside of a relationship or dating doesn't sound very much like you."

"Really, Sirius," she said, exasperated, scooting back to the other end of the sofa. "Charlie and you are basically the same age now and your hookups have hardly been older than me. In fact, a bunch of them were younger than me if I remember correctly." She stumbled over a few of her words, but other than that she thought she was still pretty coherent. Sirius' eyebrows shot up as if he hadn't realised the age difference between the two of them was now the same as between her and Charlie. She used his momentary silence to continue, "And what's your problem with me having and enjoying sex? Charlie and I didn't hurt anyone."

"What about yourself? Was there never a point in time, when you hoped for more than just sex?" Sirius asked, blunt and to the point, but his eyes had softened as she'd answered his previous questions.

"Fine... Fine. I guess we are talking about this. I'm sad that it's over and when he left today I cried," she said, rubbing a hand over her face. "I never expected a relationship from him though. The first time we slept with each other was a matter of convenience and, on my part, rebound. I'd been staying at his place for a little while and it kind of just happened." Considering she didn't want to talk about it, the words spilled from her mouth quickly, most likely helped along by the firewhiskey, and she realised she'd tell him more than he probably wanted to know. If he asked, that was.

"After that it was so easy. We had so much _fun_ in Romania, and originally that was going to be the end of it, you know. But then there was George's wedding and then Harry and Ginny's wedding. We couldn't stay away from each other, but I cannot see myself as his girlfriend, partner, or wife. He doesn't want to leave Romania, he's happiest when he's there, and I'm happy _here_. Back then I wasn't ready for something long-term, to settle down. I'm still not quite there yet." She took a deep breath and searched Sirius' face for a sign that he was judging her, but he was simply listening.

"Of course I got somewhat emotionally attached to Charlie," she said, blinking away some fresh tears, "But I always think of him as a _friend_. He was a bit like a safety net. A relationship with any of the guys I went out with wouldn't have worked, or wouldn't have worked long-term rather, but I also knew that the next summer or Christmas or other family get-together I'd be able to hook up with him again. He set the bar pretty high, but at the same time…"

She faltered, looking down at her drink before fixing her gaze on Sirius again, a fire burning in her eyes. "Let me put it this way, if I had well and truly fallen in love with someone along the way, I wouldn't have had any trouble ending whatever Charlie and I had right there and then." Surprisingly Hermione felt better after getting that off her chest, realising the truth behind her words. She took a few deep breaths and refilled their glasses, seeing as Sirius had finished his drink as well.

"You've slept with other people while this with Charlie was going on? What were they like?" Sirius asked, appearing genuinely curious. Hermione scrunched up her nose.

"One of them was a former classmate from Hogwarts. We had to work together on a project for Kingsley and when it was over he asked me out. We went out a few times and it was perfectly fine, but when we slept with each other, there was no spark, no passion, between us. Realised it at the same time, funnily enough." Hermione chuckled and took a sip of her drink before continuing. "Another guy was, well, a mistake for the second time. He and I broke up the year I went to Romania for Christmas, Theodore Nott. I was heartbroken and pissed off the first time around and the second time wasn't any better. I thought he'd changed, but he hadn't and it was just... _messy_." She frowned and wondered just what had possessed her to give Theo the time of day again. Oh right, she had actually been in love with him once.

"That's a difficult lesson to learn," Sirius commented, a wry smile on his face, making him look much more like Remus than himself, and Hermione nodded.

"The last guy I actually dated... He was a healer. He was nice at first, but after a while it seemed like he wanted to be with me because I'm 'Harry Potter's best friend and part of the Golden Trio' rather than for me." Sirius looked as though he shared her annoyance at that. Normally she made sure to not go out with anyone like that, but somehow she had misjudged that man horribly. "There were a few one-night stands here and there, but those have always made me feel kind of shit. I don't know, I think I feel better sleeping with someone I at least know a little bit about." With that she shrugged and looked at Sirius expectantly.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm the last person to judge you, but, keeping in mind that you and Charlie regularly hooked up with each other for the last six years, that's more than I expected from you. Who'd have thought you would grow up to be so... open about sex." Hermione had to laugh. _Who would have thought indeed._

"A lot can happen in a decade. Besides, after the war everyone's been a little more laid back."

"It's still jarring sometimes," Sirius noted quietly. "I died when you were all teenagers. You were so," he tried to find the right word, " _young_ back then." He had to laugh and shook his head. "And now that I'm back everyone's grown up and married with children of their own." The first few months after Sirius got back had been stressful - it was easy enough to let people know he was back from the dead, but actually meeting everyone and matching up past and present versions of people was much harder. Harry had given him the least trouble because other than being a little older, a little more scarred and a little less hot-headed, he still looked very much like himself. Most of the Weasleys hadn't changed all that much either. Tonks, Remus, Hermione - those three had been _difficult_ , though not as difficult as the children - all fifteen of them. Still, he did a lot better with them than Hermione had at first, and she' had time to get used to them bit by bit. Then again, he had the advantage of being able to turn into his animagus form when the horde of tiny witches and wizard became too much for him - the children loved playing with Padfoot.

"I don't think we're really all that grown up. At least, I don't think I am. Most of the time I just hope for the best." Hermione stretched her legs out, putting her feet in Sirius' lap, as his genuine barking laughter filled the room.

"You should have a chat with Remus about that. He tells me he still hasn't got a clue, and he's pretty ancient now," Sirius said with a wink.

"Sirius! He's not ancient," Hermione admonished him despite the fact that she was grinning herself because Sirius was very clearly joking. Their conversation lulled while they sipped from their drinks, both apparently lost in their own thoughts.

After a couple of minutes Sirius cleared his throat and, giving her a lopsided grin, asked, "What are you going to miss the most about sex with Charlie?"

Hermione cocked an eyebrow and smirked at Sirius, asking, "Sure you can handle that information?"

"Try me. I bet I can match your stories with some of my own," Sirius said, the challenge clear in his voice and she felt the curiosity and alcohol getting the better of her.

"I'll really miss his mouth and tongue. The first time after Romania at George's wedding was just," she broke off and fanned herself with her hand. "I teased him all night - you should have seen the dress I wore! - and even though the reception was still going on, he dragged me off to an orchard at some point only to push me against a tree, hike up my dress and make me come so damn fast just by using his mouth." Sirius took a sip from his drink and licked his lips, the movement catching her eye and reminding her just how _she'd_ gotten herself off the last time she'd stayed over at Grimmauld Place.

"I once had a partner who loved to ride my face. She'd start by licking my cock, then kissing and licking along my body, crawling up and up until I had a thigh on either side of my face. The closer she got, rubbing herself over my mouth, the harder she'd pull at my hair, so focused on getting herself off. Very hot, that." It was easy enough for Hermione to picture herself in that position, dominating Sirius like that, using him for her own pleasure, while they'd both know full-well that he was letting himself be used like that and enjoyed it.

Keeping her voice steady, Hermione quickly said, "I'll miss him fucking me. The first few times he kind of held back, but at one point he asked if I liked rougher sex or if I'd be okay with trying it, and holy shit. Don't get me wrong, the sex was great before, but once he got to let go completely it was mind-blowing. He had me bent over his kitchen counter, fucking me from behind, pulling at my hair. Left me covered in hickeys." A slight blush tinged her cheeks - whether from the continuous drinking or because her voice did crack about halfway through that story, she wasn't quite sure herself.

"Gimmauld Place, kitchen table. She got me very hot and bothered by sucking me off, but didn't let me come. Straddled me before I could think straight and got herself off with achingly slow rocking of her hips, kept me on the edge the whole time and only rode me hard after she'd come."

"You seem to like your witches to know what they want," Hermione commented. She'd been sure no woman ever left Grimmauld Place unsatisfied, but she'd always thought that stemmed more from Sirius liking a challenge than his partners being so dominant. To be told that he took home such confident women... She hadn't really expected it.

"The best sex I've had was often with women like that, but there were others as well. Fucking slowly and actually feeling like you're close to someone and falling a little bit in love - if only for a night." Hermione raised an eyebrow at that and wondered why he never let a woman stick around for longer if he clearly was capable of feeling something _more_.

"Any other stories? Or was that all already?" he asked her, getting back on topic when he realised he'd let something slip that he'd hardly ever shared before, except maybe with Moony.

Hermione tutted, "Six years, Sirius. Do you really think that was all?" Sirius simply laughed and raised his glass in her direction as if to tell her to continue.

"I'll miss the times when he takes longer to tease me than to fuck me," she said and sipped from her drink before continuing. "One time I asked him if he'd like to, um, tie me to my bed. He touched me and kissed me and licked me until my skin felt on fire and with every touch I thought he'd make me come. He took all the time in the world to bring me incredibly close only to pull away and snog me for while. I got so desperate I begged him to let me come at least once, but he didn't. At least not until he was rock hard from my moans and begging and writhing against him. At that point it only took _him_ a few thrusts and he brought me over the edge at the same time."

It was one of her fondest memories of Charlie. Not just because of the amazing orgasm that had washed over her and left her feeling giddy, but because they laughed together when he untied her from the bed and then held her close. He'd told her how much he enjoyed the experience and then asked if she was fine, if he had taken it too far. She'd cuddled close to him, reassuring him that she'd been happy with it all or else she would have used their safe word. Burying his face in her hair, he'd whispered that he'd be happy for a repeat - or for her to tie him up some time. Hermione didn't share that part with Sirius.

"My, my, Miss Granger, very kinky indeed," Sirius said, shifting slightly on the sofa and adjusting his position. "There's something very fun about tying someone up like that and having your way with them. One of my partners wanted to be blindfolded at the same time as tied up - kicked the whole sensitivity thing up a notch. The smallest touches got her wet and she came so fast when I finally fucked her." Blindfolding wasn't something she'd tried before, because eye contact turned her on, but the thought of being in such a vulnerable position with someone she trusted piqued her interest as well. Maybe something to think about later.

Sirius was looking at her expectantly, and Hermione cleared her throat, picking her next story carefully. "We once had a threesome with one of his colleagues. It was fucking hot to see him suck off another bloke while I bounced up and down on his cock. Two very handsome, tattoo-covered men that really wanted to please me and each other was almost a bit much," she said with a chuckle. If she'd expected Sirius to be shocked at this particular tidbit of information she would be disappointed, because he didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Remus and I once shared a wonderful witch. It wasn't so much about us getting it on together though. We just wanted to fuck her at the same time. Kind of difficult to describe what that felt like, but it was fun. Never did get a chance to repeat that particular experience." Maybe he was trying to shock her in return, seeing as he was smirking and there was a glint to his eyes as he gauged her reaction. What he didn't know though was that this particular story had come out years ago, not long after the war actually, when they had been young enough to regularly play drinking games and got Remus to indulge them for once by playing with them. Unlike Tonks, it was always much harder to convince Remus to join them all, but it was oh so worth it the few times they did manage.

"I'll miss sucking Charlie off," Hermione continued without missing a beat, licking her lips. "Charlie was always quite... vocal whenever I wrapped my lips around his cock and this one time I had a bit of fun exploiting that. He'd gotten back to the Burrow the previous night and I popped around the next morning just as he was in the shower. When he got out of the shower, I snuck into the bathroom and surprised him. He didn't know I'd be coming over. Didn't get the chance to cast a silencing charm, so he just had to suck it up and force himself to be quiet, while I sucked him off. He got his revenge later, but it was very much worth it." Hermione grinned at the memory. They hadn't seen each other for a few months at that point and she'd thought it was a pretty good way to say 'welcome back'. Only with less words. Sirius laughed and tried to think of a similar story. For once, he was at a disadvantage because he'd never had a standing arrangement like that with anyone, seeing as most of his stories started in bars or pubs or other such establishments and ended that night or the following morning.

Unable to think of something quickly, Sirius stalled by asking, "What was his revenge?"

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," Hermione said with a laugh, shaking her head. Even though his plan was obvious, she indulged him. "That night we went down to the pub with Ginny, Harry, Ron, a few others. Bit of a welcome back thing for Charlie, actually. The whole evening he teased me, pushed his hand right under my skirt whenever no one would notice and well, you can imagine what he did."

Sirius' laughter filled her living room. "Please tell me Moony was out with you that day!"

The blush colouring Hermione's cheeks answered that for him, but she still cleared his throat and primly told him, "He was. In fact, he informed me that he has a fairly good sense of smell - even in a dingy pub." Sirius didn't stop laughing for a long while, only when Hermione asked, "Didn't you say you could match my stories?" and reminded him of their little game.

"Very well," Sirius said, another chuckle escaping him as he glanced at Hermione. "After a very short night of sleep, one of my partners woke me by giving me one of the best blowjobs of my life. She had beautiful brown eyes and didn't break eye contact the whole time. Did some truly amazing things with her mouth." Hermione took a long drink of her firewhiskey to stop herself from saying that she could probably do better and asking if she should demonstrate. Her heart beat hard and fast in her chest as she asked herself what the fuck was wrong with her. She and Charlie had just ended things that day, and apparently firewhiskey didn't mix well with the feelings that brought up.

More than that though, hooking up with Sirius would be a stupid idea. If he even took her up on it. At best it would lead to another friends with benefits arrangement, at worst it would be nothing more than a one-night stand. She would be just another notch on his bedpost - or he on hers.

"Run out of stories?" Sirius asked, although he gave her face a searching look, trying to figure out if she was alright or not, wondering if she'd shared more with him than she would be comfortable with tomorrow morning.

"I'll miss the lazy mornings," Hermione said, her voice low as she pulled her gaze from Sirius' face, and instead looked down at her drink. "It was great whenever we were a bit rougher with each other, but I also loved the mornings after, when we fucked in the kitchen or the shower after breakfast, when we took our time with each other, because there was no need to rush." Her voice cracked on the last few words and she had to blink fresh tears away.

"Hermione," Sirius sighed, taking the glass of firewhiskey from her hand and putting it on the table, setting his own glass down right next to it. She glanced at his face and could tell that he was trying to find the right words. The expression was an odd one on Sirius Black because he often said whatever popped into his head. It took him a while to continue, "I'm sorry Ginny found out, I'm sorry you and Charlie ended things, but don't you think you deserve better, more than that?"

Hermione shook her head, running her hand through her hair and avoiding meeting Sirius' gaze. "I've told you, I don't think I was, am ready for a relationship where marriage and children and Merlin knows what else are very much things to be thought about."

Sirius watched her carefully, giving her his full attention, but the question slipped past his lips before he could think about it properly. "Are you going to be alright?" The change in Hermione's demeanour was instantaneous, the witch glaring at him before her expression closed off completely and she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"It's fine. I think I've just had a little too much to drink," she muttered, looking off to the side, her eyes landing on her fireplace. "Mind if we continue this another time?" She got up from the sofa and Sirius followed her suit.

He knew a lost cause when he saw one, so he said, "I really should get going. Mind if I pinch some of your floo powder?" She shook her head and grabbed a little pouch from her mantlepiece, holding it out for him.

"Thanks for the evening, love. I'll see you tomorrow." Sirius gave her a weak smile, and though she tried her hardest, she couldn't help but smile back until her brain registered what he'd said. _Tomorrow? Fuck! The dinner at the Burrow._

"I'll see you tomorrow," she replied feebly. From the changing emotions on Hermione's face, Sirius could tell that she'd forgotten about the dinner, that he'd only just reminded her of it, but since he'd already annoyed her that night, he decided a retreat would serve him better in the long run. Maybe he could let Ginny know that Hermione was freaking out about their typical Sunday get-together the following day.

Grabbing some of the floo powder and giving Hermione another smile he wasn't sure she even noticed, Sirius flooed back to his own house, making a firecall as soon as he'd come through the emerald flames.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone!_

 _Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I wasn't too sure if I should post this or skip to the next chapter directly, but I did think one of her friends would check up on Hermione after that day, so here it is~_

 _Two weeks feels like forever to have between updates, buuuut it gives me time to write ahead. I have now fully planned out the story with chapters and what happens in them and everything, and I've finished writing Chapter 9 and have gotten started on Chapter 10 c: Would you guys like to know how many chapters I have planned in total or would you like that to be a surprise? Let me know what you think!_


	7. Chapter 6

Dropping the pouch with floo powder back on her mantlepiece, Hermione groaned and ran a hand through her hair, wondering just what to do now. _For now I should calm down_ , she thought to herself, her tipsy brain not quite as quick as usual. She looked around her flat for Crookshanks, but only found him once she got to her guest room. He was lying right in the middle of the bed, curled up into a tight ball, and barely even opened his eyes when she entered the room.

"Oh, don't look so grumpy," Hermione said as she curled up next to him. While he didn't appreciate the comment, he still had an uncanny ability to know when she wasn't feeling well (even in his old age), so he headbutted her hand and started licking it. With a small smile, Hermione scratched him behind his ears at which point he started purring. She was grateful for every day he still was with her, but the signs of his old age had been growing over the last few months. His hearing was pretty bad and his eyesight wasn't the best anymore either.

"What do you think I should do now? You'll miss Charlie, too, won't you?" Hermione babbled on and even though she knew Crookshanks couldn't hear her particularly well anymore, she felt like he knew what was plaguing her mind anyway.

"Maybe talk about it to someone who can actually reply," came a voice from the doorway and, instincts kicking in, Hermione jumped up - with only a slight wobble - and whipped out her wand.

"Merlin, Ginny, don't scare me like that!" she said, pocketing her wand and relaxing when she realised it was her friend and not some intruder. The fact that an intruder would have a hard time breaking her wards or wouldn't care about her problems didn't even cross her mind. Crookshanks, little impressed by the sudden movement and commotion in _his_ private quarters, jumped off the bed and hissed as he walked past Hermione and Ginny with a flicking tail.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to risk you telling me to leave you alone. Sirius said you were acting off when he left here." Ginny didn't look particularly apologetic, just worried, and Hermione's expression softened. She curled up on the bed again and patted the space next to her. With a sigh, Ginny climbed onto the bed and laid down facing her friend.

"Is this because of Charlie or Sirius?"

"Both. And firewhiskey, possibly. I really shouldn't have had any alcohol today," Hermione said, stifling a yawn. "I don't want a relationship with Charlie, but I'm still sad knowing that what we had is over. I didn't think I'd need time to get over him when I thought about it ending in the past, but apparently I do and that is unexpected." She looked at Ginny hoping that she'd have all the answers, all the while knowing that no one ever had _all_ the answers.

"You'll be fine. Of course today sucks, and maybe tomorrow will suck as well, but it'll get easier," Ginny reassured her and added with a laugh, "You survived without getting laid regularly before!"

"However did I do it," Hermione replied, a wry smile on her lips.

"No idea. Why do you think I stuck with Harry all this time?"

"Because he's the love of your life and father of your children?" Hermione asked, the smile on her face widening.

"There is that," Ginny said, rolling over onto her back and looking up at the guest room ceiling, bewitched to always look like a starry sky, a smile on her face. After a moment she asked, "So why did Sirius tell me you were freaking out?"

Hermione turned onto her back as well and picked out the brightest star on her ceiling. "To be honest, there's two reasons. I have no idea how I'll survive the dinner at the Burrow tomorrow with _everyone_ knowing, and I very nearly offered to blow Sirius. And not just as a joke or banter between friends." While crudely put, the latter of the two admissions didn't sound quite as dramatic out loud as it had in her head.

"Let's deal with the less serious Sirius thing first," Ginny said with a snort, ignoring the glare Hermione was shooting her. "You didn't actually offer to blow Sirius, so no harm, no foul. But even if you had, what would have been the big deal?"

"I don't want another friends with benefits relationship and I don't want to be just another notch on his bedpost - or him to be one on mine. In fact, I'd just like to be nothing more than _friends_ with Sirius, and some days, you know the ones, even that seems to be pushing it. Besides, he doesn't do long-term and I don't think I want to start any kind of relationship based on nothing more than sex again."

"You and Sirius are friends though. Even on the days when you want to hex his favourite appendage off. Would anything with him really be starting it with just sex? You can't compare it to a relationship where you start with dating and getting to know someone through that. It's like you guys would be starting on, I don't know, the fifteenth date."

"Doesn't change the fact that he doesn't do long-term relationships. Have you ever seen him bring home the same witch twice before?" Hermione looked over at Ginny, who frowned at her words.

"Just because he hasn't found someone to have an actual relationship with, doesn't mean he'd never have a relationship ever. You know as well as I do that he loves children and maybe now that he can actually have a normal life, a relationship, marriage, children, that's something he wants for himself as well." Ginny was making some very good points, but this wasn't something they could figure out just between the two of them. Only Sirius could answer these questions in the end, and neither of them was currently inclined to involve the Marauder in their discussion. Even so, talking to Ginny helped.

"Just when did you get so wise?" Hermione asked, keeping her eyes on Ginny who'd started laughing.

"Must have happened while you were out and about shagging my brother." She paused for a moment. "Although I personally believe I've always been like this. Certainly smarter than my brothers, particularly the ones that earned more N.E.W.T.s than any one person needs."

Hermione and Ginny laughed together, Hermione breathlessly saying, "Don't let them hear that!" which made Ginny laugh even harder.

As their laughter died down, Ginny said, "I don't think you have to worry too much about tomorrow. Everyone will be a subtle as a Weasley can be."

"That's _exactly_ what I'm worried about."

"None of us _want_ Mum to actually find out that Charlie and you have been shagging for years. We love you guys too much for that." Ginny threw one of her arms over Hermione, attempting to hug her and Hermione groaned.

"Fine, I'll somehow make it through dinner tomorrow," she said to get Ginny to stop and pushed her away. Both of them turned back on their backs, looking up at the ceiling once more as a much more relaxed silence settled over them.

After a little while, Hermione said, "Thank you for coming over, Ginny. I think this conversation would have been somewhat more difficult with Harry."

"Harry giving you advice on how to get with his godfather," Ginny said with a snort, laughing at the same time as Hermione just a second later.

When they'd regained their composure, Hermione said in a much more sombre voice, "I don't want to get with Sirius. Not really. I think tonight it'd have been part rebound, part alcohol, and maybe a teeny, tiny part attraction." She bit her bottom lip, thinking about how to best explain her muddled thoughts. "I just want to be by myself for a while. No dates, no friends with benefits, no one-night stands. I need to figure out what I want." Ginny nodded, but her expression had shifted ever so slightly, and Hermione got the distinct impression that her friend had begun scheming.

"That sounds awfully adult of you," Ginny remarked. "Then again you're usually the more grown up of the two of us."

"Do you really think that? Look at you - you're married, have a house, an awesome job, and three children. And you're the younger of the two of us. Meanwhile I have an inkling of what I want eventually, but no idea if I'm ready for it." Hermione shook her head. "After, well, everything I wonder if I can still trust my decisions." She sighed and quietly added, "I never used to have that problem." Hermione had to think back to their Hogwarts days and how she was so sure of _everything_ she was doing - S.P.E.W. came to mind.

"You'll figure it out, you always do. "

 _What if this is the one time I don't,_ Hermione wondered, but gave Ginny a grateful smile and changed the topic. Much like Sirius, Ginny was curious about some of the particulars of her relationship with Charlie, despite the fact that it involved her own brother's sex life. The younger witch argued that Hermione oughtn't be surprised that she had no shame whatsoever, considering how much of her personality had been shaped by the twins and the fact that she had six older brothers, most of whom she had to live with while they were teenagers.

Ginny ended up staying with her until she had trouble keeping her eyes open at which point she was almost back to sober anyway. Crookshanks had joined them again after a while and curled up on Ginny's stomach, the ginger witch stroking him while she and Hermione were talking. When Ginny left, Hermione dragged herself over to the bed in her own bedroom, falling asleep almost immediately. After the eventful Saturday she'd had, she planned on having a proper lie-in for once.

* * *

True to her word, Hermione had a proper lie-in on Sunday. When she finally woke up, it wasn't to the smell of freshly-brewed coffee or the sound of humming from the kitchen and, just for a moment, she was disappointed. With a sigh, she got up and ready for the day, deciding to go out for breakfast instead of staying at home and lazing around, which would only lead to unbidden thoughts about certain men in her life and fretting about the dinner at the Burrow. There was a bakery just down the road that she got bread or croissants from on the weekends - if she had the time, that was - and it normally had a few tables set out, so people could have breakfast or brunch or some tea later in the day. Bundled up in a thick coat, Hermione made her way there, sitting down not much later with a hearty breakfast and a book she'd brought along.

When she went to restaurants or cafés by herself, she always picked a table by the windows. Whenever she looked up from her book, she watched the people going past: some hurried, some were with their families, some seemed to have all the time in the world. Most people looked quite loaded with bags though, and she figured that most of them still had some more Christmas shopping to do. Grinning to herself, she was glad that she'd gotten it out of the way already, so she could bury herself in work for the last week before the holidays started.

A couple of hours and cups of coffee later, Hermione made her way back to the flat. The Weasley family owl was already waiting for her when she got to her living room, perched on her windowsill and clicking her beak furiously when she saw Hermione return. How long had she been waiting for her? Hermione quickly went over to the window, opening it for the bird, and grabbed a few owl treats from a bowl on one of her shelves.

"Sorry, Elvi. I hope you haven't been sitting there for too long," Hermione said while she fed Elvi a few treats and took the note off of her leg. The barn owl gulped the treats down, clicked her beak at Hermione a few more times and then took right off again through the open window. Shaking her head, Hermione closed the window and watched Elvi fly further and further away. The Weasleys had gotten her after the war and normally she was a whole lot nicer to her. Then again, she probably didn't appreciate being kept waiting.

Unfolding the note and reading it quickly, Hermione raised her eyebrows. Mrs Weasley had written her to let her know that the dinner was going to be a birthday dinner for Charlie, who had already come back from Romania last night, would you believe it. Since they so rarely got to celebrate Charlie's birthday these days, Mrs Weasley wanted to pull out all the stops - as if she ever didn't - and asked her to bring along a dessert of some kind, maybe her carrot cake if it wasn't too much trouble for her.

Since Hermione would simply have ended up doing what she'd set out to avoid that morning without the request (lazing around in her living room until it was time to get ready for the dinner at the Burrow, that was), it really wasn't too much trouble. Thankfully no trip down to the shops was needed and so Hermione got cracking on the cake right away. Although focused on the task at hand, she couldn't help but let her mind wander, ultimately fretting, albeit only a little bit, about the dinner.

While Bill, Fleur, Audrey and Percy (as well as their children) wouldn't be coming around that night as far as she knew, those four would have been the ones least likely to let her and Charlie's secret slip. In fact, the only ones likely to spill just what kind of relationship Hermione and Charlie had had for the past six years were the twins. She loved Fred and George, she really did, but even now they sometimes didn't realise when they'd taken a joke too far. With a sigh and a frown and a mood that was reminiscent of Sirius on his bad days, Hermione set the timer for her cake and used the time it took to bake to get ready.

Putting on the finishing touches on her appearance - a little bit of makeup ( _just because_ , she told herself) and taming her hair into a messy braid -, her anxiety nearly got the better of her. Tempted to tell everyone she had somehow gotten food poisoning, her plan was foiled when Ginny stuck her head through her fireplace and told her to get a move on and come through to the Burrow. Grumbling to herself, Hermione got the cake from the kitchen and flooed to the Weasley home a few minutes later, dusting herself off after she stepped out of the fireplace. She had just hugged Ginny when Fred, George, Angelina and Katie came through with their children.

Fabian and Paige, the two closest in age, were off to the kitchen, where the rest of the Weasley family had gathered, in a second, Gideon following hot on their heels. Only the youngest of this particular bunch, Roxanne, was left behind because Angelina was holding her, but the little girl was making grabby hands after her older brother and cousins.

"Just a second, Roxy. Let's say hi to Auntie Ginny and Auntie Hermione first," Angelina said to the little girl, standing next to Hermione and Ginny with Katie as they waited for Fred and George to dust themselves off. At the mention of Hermione's name, the twins' heads snapped up, taking one look around the living room before wide grins spread on their faces when their eyes landed on Hermione.

Hermione's heart rate picked up at the look Fred and George were giving her - they looked ready to pounce. Normally she wasn't scared of the two and even now it felt ridiculous considering she'd faced Death Eaters and a Dark Lord in the past. However, she _really_ didn't want Mrs Weasley to find out about her and Charlie. She attempted to escape to the kitchen, but it was futile, because they simply stepped in her way, blocking her escape route.

"Hermione! How good to see you today," said Fred, or rather the twin she'd decided she'd be calling Fred that evening, in a booming voice.

"We wanted to use this chance and tell you that - ", George began, equally as loud, only to break off and letting Fred finish the sentence.

" - you're truly like a sister to us."

"Of course we're not just speaking for the two of us here - "

" - but everyone: Ron, Percy, Bill… _Charlie_."

"But we do feel so very close to you."

"Although some of us probably feel closer to you than us."

"One could say as if they were right inside of you, perhaps." Hermione contemplated her options as the twins stared at her expectantly, sure that she was going to start yelling any second now. While undoubtedly satisfying for a moment or two, yelling and hexing the twins would draw unwanted attention, Hermione realised. Just moments earlier, she'd been scared of the twins and ready to lose her head, but now there was an eerie calm about her. The twins had actually achieved the opposite of what they'd wanted - there was no way in hell she'd let anything slip that evening.

"Nice try," she said calmly after taking a deep breath. The smile on her face was soft, as if they'd just told her an innocent joke, but it didn't quite reach her eyes - those had a dangerous glint to them. Fred and George's eyebrows had shot up, their expression almost comical if one thought about it. "Now if you'll excuse me, your mum is probably waiting for my cake." She pushed past the twins, elbowing them in the sides for good measure as she went. Angelina, Katie and Ginny gave Fred and George stern looks before following after Hermione into the kitchen, where everyone else was sitting around the already set table.

Hermione set down her cake on one of the few free spaces on one of the worktops and hugged Mrs Weasley, who was watching over numerous pots and pans at the same time as chatting with her children and grandchildren.

"Thanks for the cake, dear," she said, patting Hermione's cheek before gesturing for her to sit down somewhere around the table. Hermione had wanted to avoid Charlie that evening, but as luck would have it, the only free space at the table was across from him, right between Remus and Sirius. With a sigh Hermione plopped down between the two Marauders and said a loud hello to everyone else in the room, not bothering to greet everyone separately because that would just take too long.

She gave Charlie a weak smile before focusing her attention on Remus to her right, who was leaning into her and asking, "How are you doing? Sirius mentioned that the dinner almost slipped your mind."

"Has he now?" Hermione replied sharply, glancing at Sirius, but he was talking to Harry, James and Al and not paying any attention to her and Remus. Glancing back at Remus, she saw that Remus was wearing a look of genuine concern and wasn't actually trying to annoy her with the question. With a small sigh, she said in a much softer voice, "I'm fine, Remus. Thanks for asking." As she took a closer look at Remus, a small frown appeared on her face because Remus was more haggard looking than normally. There had been leaps and bounds in the development and improvement of Wolfsbane over the years, but turning into a werewolf once a month still took its toll on the body, even with the potion around. Eyes widening a little, she realised that the last full moon had only been a couple of nights ago. "How are you doing yourself?"

Remus gave her a lopsided grin and raised an eyebrow at her in a way that made her feel silly for asking, because of course she knew that it would never be _pleasant_ for Remus to turn - but he'd gotten used to it by now, had made his peace with his wolf. "I'm fine, Hermione."

"Another potion master came 'round our place a while back and wanted my handsome husband as a test subject for his version of the Wolfsbane, Friday was the first time they'd tried it," Tonks said with a wide grin, wrapping her arms around Remus and putting her head on his shoulder.

"How'd that go?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows. It was always nice to know people continued improving that potion.

"Only had to take one dose," Remus said, a giddiness to his words that made him seem much younger.

"Wow, that's really impressive," she said, a wide grin on her face. Tonks was grinning just as widely, pressing a kiss to Remus' cheek.

"Can't get much better than that," Remus admitted, wrapping an arm around Tonks. Their conversation was interrupted when Mrs Weasley spoke up and told them that dinner was ready, floating all kinds of delicious-smelling things over to the table and spreading them out along it. Everyone filled their plates with as much food as it could hold before tucking in. For a little while everyone was focused on eating, but it didn't take too long for conversations to start up again - the Burrow was never quiet for too long.

Although focused on her meal, Hermione couldn't help but hold Charlie's gaze a little too long whenever their eyes met, her heart rate picking up when he gave her his typical smirk that _usually_ meant he was going to do something exceptionally naughty to her as soon as they were alone. Except he couldn't make good on that promise any longer. After the fifth time their eyes met and Charlie tugged at the collar of his jumper, revealing a love bite Hermione had given him, she cleared her throat and took a big gulp of her water, looking over at Sirius, only to find him watching her with an amused look on his face.

Clearing her throat once more, she quietly said, "Thanks for sending Ginny over yesterday."

Rolling his eyes, Sirius said, "No problem. Wouldn't want you to freak all nice. That would have given you a perfect excuse to skip out on dinner and this is far too hilarious." Hermione gasped at the words, but Sirius just grinned.

"I'm glad my misery is so entertaining to you." Sirius simply gave Hermione one of his 'oh-please'-looks. She frowned and huffed before leaning close to Sirius and whispering, "Yeah, didn't think that would work either. I really don't want this to spread further than it already has though."

"Oh, come on. As if we'd let anything slip. Your secret's _perfectly_ safe with all of us."

"Within half a day the whole family knew!" Hermione said, exasperated.

"Not the whole family or else another Weasley would have paid you a visit last night." Hermione shuddered at the thought - Mrs Weasley would have been unbearable.

"Come on, just relax." Hermione shook her head. How could she relax in this situation? She focused on her food for a while, changing the topic of their conversation to Christmas, asking if he'd gotten all his Christmas shopping done yet. To her surprise Sirius told her with a smug smile on his face that he was in fact ready for Christmas and had gotten all his presents in order.

Just as she was about to tell him about her shopping tour with Ginny and Luna, Fred interrupted her and asked, "Hey, Hermione! Have you seen Charlie's new tattoo yet?" He was loud enough to draw the attention of most people around the table and Hermione licked her lips nervously, looking over at Charlie.

"How would I? I haven't seen him in ages." She tried to sound confident, but it was one thing to just _not tell_ her family and friends something and another thing entirely to lie to their faces - or at least some of them. At the same time she couldn't stop thinking about the tattoo Fred undoubtedly meant: a dragon whose head was nestled on Charlie's hip, but whose body came _very_ close to his private parts before curling around to his arse and ending on his thigh.

"And it's not exactly in a place I'd show Hermione, is it?" Charlie asked the twins with a grin, eliciting snorts from most of the adults around the table.

"That's what we thought, but you never know, do you?" George asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, stop being ridiculous, you two," Mrs Weasley chided her two sons as she got up from the table, waving her wand to magic the empty plates and leftovers to the sink and worktop. "You really should stop with all those tattoos, though, Charlie. You've hardly got a free spot of skin left on your body." It was a point Mrs Weasley made almost every time Charlie came home, but he simply shrugged. Everyone else turned back to their other conversations while Mrs Weasley levitated three cakes over, including Hermione's carrot cake, as well as plates and forks for everyone. One of the cakes had thick chocolate icing (Charlie's favourite), the words "Happy Birthday" written on it in bright orange letter and a whole bunch of candles on it one of the twins lit with a flick of their wand. They all sang 'Happy Birthday to you' together, which had Charlie smiling brightly before taking a deep breath and blowing out all the candles at once.

Soon everyone had a piece of cake sitting on the plate in front of them, their attention moving away from Charlie as they were tucking in. Before he even took the first forkful of his cake, Charlie caught her eye and smirking at her again he swiped off some of the chocolate icing with his thumb, licking it off and letting his teeth graze over the pad of the digit still holding her gaze. Hermione stared, she knew she was staring, and her breath hitched as she watched him. Just what was he playing at? She shifted in her seat, wetting her lips and finally lowered her gaze, looking down at her plate. It was ridiculous how easily her body reacted to Charlie. If it wouldn't cause more trouble than it was worth, Hermione would have retaliated, but with her luck one of the others would notice - they weren't completely oblivious after all.

Remus disrupted her thoughts a moment later, leaning over and whispering into her ear, "My sense of smell is _still_ rather good, Hermione." She groaned, glancing at Remus and shaking her head at Tonks grinning at her from behind him, the older witch raising her eyebrows at Hermione. Hermione was about to say something, but Sirius tapped her on the shoulder and she looked over at the other Marauder.

"Doubt I ever mentioned this before, but thanks to my animagus form my sense of smell is pretty damn good as well," he said, his voice low enough that only she could hear him.

"Please stop," she muttered, rather flustered as she focused all her attention on her cake. Remus chuckled at her reaction while Sirius' barking laughter filled the kitchen, clearly amused by her predicament. Why couldn't they embarrass Charlie instead of her? Was she such an easy target? A few of the others around the table made comments here and there and by the time everyone had finished their cake, she was on edge again.

As everyone leaned back with contented sighs, Mrs Weasley let her gaze wander over her children and grandchildren. When her eyes landed on Hermione her smile faltered a little and with a sigh she asked, "Hermione, why is it that you never bring along a boyfriend for these things?"

Hermione nearly choked on her drink and the twins used her momentary speechlessness to ask, "Yes, Hermione, why don't you?"

There suddenly was a tension in the air as all eyes were on Hermione, waiting to see what she was going to say. However, it was Charlie who spoke up. "Oh, lay off her. I never bring anyone with me either."

"And why would that be?" The twins asked with wide grins on their faces.

Charlie frowned and said, "Not interested in a relationship like that. Maybe it's the same for Hermione."

"Oh yes, you would know all about what Hermione _wants_ , wouldn't you?" Charlie's ears reddened - he wasn't quite sure how he'd backed himself into that corner. Meanwhile, Hermione refused to look at anyone in particular. It had gotten pretty quiet around the table, at least as far as the adults were concerned. Mrs Weasley was looking from Hermione to Charlie, wondering just why the two of them were acting so strange, why all of her children were being so _weird_ that evening.

Her expression darkened and eyes narrowed after a moment and she asked, "Fred, George, Charlie, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Now Molly, please remember that they were both consenting adults," Remus quiet voice cut through the silence and Hermione stared at him wide eyed.

"And just what would they have to be consenting adults for?" There was a shrill note to Mrs Weasley's voice and the adults exchanged worried glances.

"What does consenting mean?" Teddy piped up, distracting everyone for a moment. Tonks gave Remus an amused look as the werewolf ran a hand through his hair, annoyed at his momentary slip.

"We'll explain later."

Before Teddy could ask again, Mr Weasley got up from the table and said, "Come along, kids, who wants to play with muggle things in the shed?" Apparently everyone but Teddy wanted to go play instead of staying at the table and the young metamorphagus only followed after Mr Weasley when Tonks and Remus told him to run along. Luna went with him, saying that Mr Weasley could probably use their help keeping all the other kids in line.

When the door shut behind Luna, Mrs Weasley glared at everyone still sat around the table, asking once more, "Just why would they have to be consenting adults?" No one wanted to be the one to speak up and tell Mrs Weasley, but in the end Fred said, "Hermione and Charlie have been _having fun_ with each other for the last six years - if you know what I mean."

It took Mrs Weasley a second to let that sink in.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

None of them would have been surprised if that scream could have been heard all the way in Mr Weasley's shed.

* * *

 _A/N: Heya everyone!_

 _This one turned out to be a long one - hope you guys enjoy it c:_

 _I would have waited to update another week, but we don't have a lot going on at work at the moment, so I should be able to get quite a bit of writing in over this weekend and next week, haha._

 _Also, I've joined a HP fanfic fest on tumblr that I have to write a Charlie/Sirius story for - it's due in July, but I want to get started on that soon, so I have more time to edit. And it'll probably end up longer than I think it'll be right now as well, so the more time, the better. It's not a pairing I've ever written before, but I think it'll be fun because I have a really good idea for it (if I do say so myself)._

 _Anyway, I mention this because I found it kind of amusing that the prompt that spoke to me the most was Charlie/Sirius, when those two feature heavily in this story, and it might mean that over the next couple of months I'll actually stick to my two-week-between-updates-posting-plan. Just wanted to let you guys know!_

 _Hope you're all having a good weekend!_


	8. Chapter 7

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

None of them would have been surprised if that scream could have been heard all the way in Mr Weasley's shed.

Attempting to distract his mother, Charlie said, "I'm getting promoted in the new year, Mum! Reserve wants me for at least another few years."

Mrs Weasley gasped, but didn't take the bait, instead yelling, "Charles Weasley! We can discuss that later. For now we need to address that _salacious affair_ you two have been having!"

"Now, Molly, please calm down." Everyone at the table cringed at Sirius' words, for this was exactly the wrong thing to say to the Weasley matriarch.

Mrs Weasley drew herself up and shrieked, "Do not tell me to calm down!" However, after a moment of Sirius holding her gaze, eyebrows raised, she shook her head and sat back down, gripping her wand a little more tightly. "How could you take advantage of Hermione like that, Charlie? She's _so much_ younger than you! And I didn't raise you to keep a relationship from us for years!" Charlie flinched at the words and a few of the others exchanged worried glances. Hermione only huffed in response to Mrs Weasley's words, shaking her head at Charlie when he looked over at her at the sound.

"Mrs Weasley, with all due respect, I am an adult and I do not need this kind of protection. Charlie would never take advantage of me - as if he wasn't raised better than that!" Hermione defended the dragon keeper, now staring down Mrs Weasley. "Besides, the age gap between him and me is far smaller than between Tonks and Remus." She shot the couple an apologetic look, but the two of them just shrugged - that _was_ a fact, after all. Mrs Weasley pursed her lips and studied Hermione for a moment.

"That is true. Well, we can't have you ruin your reputation like that and we'll be ever so pleased when you join the family properly at last. Oh, I haven't planned a wedding in so long," Mrs Weasley gushed as she looked expectantly from Charlie to Hermione, the change in her attitude almost giving them whiplash. Everyone else looked aghast, aware that Charlie and Hermione had ended things because they _didn't_ want a _proper_ relationship, that it had never been about that.

"Excuse me? Wedding?" Hermione asked, breathlessly, suddenly feeling dizzy and as if the kitchen was too warm. She grabbed Remus' hand under the table, squeezing it hard and wishing she was sandwiched between Harry and Ron, or that she had Ginny next to her. Of course he was her friend, but those three understood her even better than the werewolf.

"Yes, of course, you two will have to get married, it's improper any other way." Everyone but Mrs Weasley seemed to be able to tell that Hermione was panicking, the concern obvious on their faces.

"Mum - ," Ron and Ginny started at the same time, breaking off but giving each other lopsided grins when they realised they'd spoken at the same time.

"Mum, Hermione's reputation won't be ruined by this - no one but family knows and it's not like any of us would leak this to anyone," Ron said after Ginny gestured for him to go on.

"And even if it did come out, this is the 21st century! Not everyone has to get married," Ginny added. There were a few nods around the table nodded, but Mrs Weasley didn't seem convinced.

"But if they had a relationship for the last six years already, why not take the next step?" Fred and George snorted at that and a few others couldn't hide their smiles either, while Charlie seemed mostly embarrassed.

"It wasn't a real relationship, Mum. We were only together whenever we were single and didn't, uhm, want to be alone." Mrs Weasley gasped and opened her mouth to say something else, but Charlie held up his hand because he wasn't finished yet. "Mum, Hermione and I are both adults. Whatever we got up to _in the past_ is no one's business but our own, and yes, it is most definitely in the past. We will never have a conventional relationship or be a _proper_ couple. We have ended things." Silence followed Charlie's words, but the other Weasley kids looked impressed, seeing as people so rarely dared to tell Mrs Weasley off. She still didn't seem to want to give up thought.

"Can I at least set you up with other witches again then?"

Charlie groaned while the Weasley children chuckled at this unfortunate turn of events - most of them had to endure at least one blind date at the hands of their mother in their lives. "Has that _ever_ worked before? I'm being promoted in the new year and staying in Romania for the foreseeable future!" Charlie sounded so exasperated, but he wouldn't back down on this.

"Why don't you come back to the UK?"

"I'm happy in Romania!" The two of them continued bickering for a while longer with everyone else watching on and butting in on occasion - mostly to help Charlie, because everyone knew how stubborn Mrs Weasley could be. Hermione held back quite a bit because she didn't want anyone to bring up weddings and marriage again. Mrs Weasley only stopped when Mr Weasley and Luna came back with the kids - they'd figured they'd entertained them long enough and that the conversation would have moved on from the topic of Charlie and Hermione by that points. A few of the younger kids were yawning and rubbing their eyes, which was a sign for the parents to get going.

Since Teddy was quite a bit older than the others, Remus and Tonks stayed even when most of the others had left, offering Mr and Mrs Weasley to do the washing up, so she and Mr Weasley could get some rest, which they gladly accepted. Or rather, Mr Weasley gladly accepted while Mrs Weasley seemed oddly cold, particularly towards Hermione. With a small frown on her face, Hermione watched Mrs Weasley leave, wondering for a second whether it would be really such a good idea to spend Christmas at the Burrow that year. She loved the whole family dearly, but if Mrs Weasley held this thing with Charlie against her, she'd be much better off leaving for Australia early.

The thought was gone as quickly as it had come when Tonks threw a tea towel at her head and told her to get a move on and help them. The five of them made quick work of the dishes, only complicated by the fact that Teddy tried to sneak more of the chocolate cake, having inherited Remus' sweet tooth. With so few people in the kitchen, it was difficult to stay away from Charlie, but somehow they managed with minimal awkwardness.

"I'll just pop to the loo quickly," Hermione said as Sirius and the Lupins got their things, so they could floo back to their places. She really would have been quick had she not bumped into Charlie on her way back downstairs. With its dim light the staircase was one of the darker corners of the house, and Hermione very nearly ran into Charlie, seeing as there was barely enough space for two people to squish past each other.

"Said bye to the others already," Charlie said, his voice barely above a whisper as he let his gaze travel over her body. Hermione bit her bottom lip. He was undressing her with his eyes, and she was so tempted to reach out and touch him. Standing on the step above him, they were basically the same height and it would be incredibly easy to just lean forward and press her lips to his. As though he'd read her mind, Charlie's eyes snapped back to her face and he leaned forward, their noses nearly bumping against each other and asked, "It could be a birthday present?"

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck hesitantly while he grabbed her hips and pulled her body against his. Her heart fluttered at feeling him, the warmth he radiated, and a small sigh escaped her. "You already got a birthday present from me," she murmured, finding it difficult to breathe because they were so close now. She could _almost_ feel his lips on hers and she wanted to taste him, the faint smell of chocolate still clinging to him so very enticing.

"Maybe an early Christmas present then?" They both chuckled at that and Charlie's hands on her hips tightened momentarily before sneaking around to her bum. She tangled one of her hands in his hair, lightly tugging at it, and his eyes fell shut, his lips parting slightly.

"That would work." She _wanted_ to kiss him, was about to give in and break her new rules about no relationships on the very first day, when someone at the bottom of the stairs cleared their throat. Hermione looked past Charlie's shoulder only to see Tonks standing there.

"We thought we should wait for you since you said you'd be quick," she said, amusement clear in her voice.

Charlie looked over his shoulder and at Tonks with a sigh, stepping aside so Hermione could get past. "You always had the worst timing," he told his former classmate, who only laughed at that.

Hermione took Charlie's hand and squeezed it once before pushing past him and quietly saying, "Bye, Charlie." Cheeks burning, she followed Tonks back to the living room. "Thanks for waiting," Hermione said to the other three, giving them a small smile. Seeing how flustered Hermione was and how Tonks was grinning widely, Remus and Sirius exchanged a quick glance and raised their eyebrows at the two witches.

"Is everything alright?" Remus asked and Hermione only waved him off.

"Yes, yes, of course. Just want to get home and go to bed."

"Ladies first then," Sirius said with a terse smile. Saying goodbye to the others, Hermione was back home not much later, berating herself for how quickly she'd been ready to cave - this was going to be much more difficult than expected.

* * *

Hermione threw herself into her work the following week. Ever since she'd brought back Sirius from behind the Veil she had been splitting her time between the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Department of Mysteries. Other than Sirius they'd managed to bring back a few more people, although media attention wasn't as big for them as it had been for pureblood playboy, ex-convict and godfather of the Boy-Who-Lived, Sirius Black. In fact, media attention for anyone else had been pretty non-existent. In most of the cases it had been difficult enough to find living blood relatives who were close enough to whoever had gone through the Veil to make the ritual work.

They still had no idea why it would work sometimes and why it wouldn't other times. One of Hermione's hypotheses was that it might have to do with whether the magical cores were compatible or incompatible. Or perhaps a more scientific muggle approach could offer an explanation based on DNA - maybe the people they believed to be blood relatives weren't blood relatives after all. Even hundreds of years ago not everyone was faithful.

With a sigh, Hermione studied her calendar. On Monday the Latvian Ministry of Magic had contacted Kingsley, requesting Hermione's help with an emergency. One of their workers from their equivalent of the Department of Mysteries had been studying an artifact eerily similar to the Veil after word had reached them that the Brits had been able to pull people back from behind it. Ieva Pašlaika was an expert on runes and arithmancy, so she had been the perfect person for the job, but on Monday something had gone wrong and Ieva had been sucked into their version of the Veil. No one in the Latvian Ministry could figure out what to do, thus Kingsley was contacted. Hermione wasn't able to leave until the weekend however, but the thought of someone stuck like that, someone she could (hopefully) help relatively easily made her work with renewed vigour. It was still only Thursday though, shortly before lunch actually. Although she was sure she'd be skipping it again today. Or she would have skipped it, but shortly after twelve, Mrs Weasley suddenly stood in front of her desk, nearly making her jump when she looked up from her work.

"Mrs Weasley! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, looking the older witch over once. She didn't look as disapproving as she had during the dinner, but she also didn't seem back to her usual warmth either.

"Hello, Hermione. I thought we should discuss what happened during dinner. Are you free for lunch?" Hermione's tight smile fell and a scowl appeared on her face. However, she knew Mrs Weasley wouldn't accept a no for an answer.

"Just give me a moment to finish up here. I'll be right with you," Hermione said, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Out of curiosity, how did you even get in here?" It was unusual (and probably not quite legal) to see a civilian in the Department of Mysteries.

With a chuckle Mrs Weasley said, "A woman has to have _some_ secrets." And with that she walked back to the entrance of the office and waited for Hermione to finish what she was working on. Shaking her head, Hermione focused on the documents in front of her once more, finishing her assessment of a magical phenomenon that had occured during one of the Auror missions last month. It had raised eyebrows and so she'd promised Harry she'd look into it. Thankfully it had only been a ward they hadn't managed to take down reacting badly with a couple of the incarceration spells - certainly wouldn't happen again in the future, now that they knew what had gone wrong.

Hermione read over her analysis one more time before slamming her folder shut, grabbing her bag and coat and being off with Mrs Weasley. The two of them flooed to the Leaky Cauldron, grabbing a table in a quiet corner and Hermione quickly cast some spells that would make it difficult for anyone to overhear their conversation. They didn't start talking about anything of importance until Tom brought them their food and they were sure they wouldn't be bothered again for a while.

"What exactly did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, prepared to defend herself against Mrs Weasley's wedding plans once more.

"I cannot honestly say that I approve of the," Mrs Weasley took a deep breath there, " _relationship_ you and Charlie had, but you two are adults. You're old enough to make your own decisions and mistakes and to know what's good for you and what isn't." Mrs Weasley smiled at Hermione, but then sighed.

"After everything, after all these years, you are like a daughter to me and I would have been incredibly happy and proud if you had officially joined the family one way or another. I have to admit that that's looking increasingly unlikely and I shouldn't have suggested you and Charlie get married when you haven't had that kind of relationship. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable in my home and I hope we can get past this." Hermione stared at Mrs Weasley and wondered - only for a moment - if she'd decided by herself to go talk to Hermione to clear the air or if Charlie and Mr Weasley had given her a nudge in the right direction. Hermione had genuinely worried about spending Christmas with the Weasley since the weekend, but this made it a bit easier.

"Thank you. I would have loved to become your daughter-in-law, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. And it doesn't change that you're like a second mother to me, you know." It looked as though Mrs Weasley was about to jump up to hug her, but then she seemed to think better of it and just grabbed Hermione's hand across the table, looking a little teary-eyed.

After a few moments of eating in silence Mrs Weasley asked, "Will you be coming to dinner on Sunday? It's going to be a small one: Harry, Ginny, the kids, Charlie and us."

Hermione pulled a face. "I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it. I have to go to Latvia to help the Latvian Ministry of Magic with an emergency."

"Latvia? _Nobody_ ever goes to Latvia! What even does their Ministry need your help with?"

"That's classified information, but I wouldn't go if I didn't absolutely have to," Hermione said and luckily Mrs Weasley accepted that explanation without any further questions. They finished their lunch talking about a few other things - what the other Weasleys were planning before and after Christmas, what presents they thought they might get and the newest going-ons at the Ministry. Mrs Weasley went back home from the Leaky while Hermione flooed back to work, feeling as though a weight had been lifted of her shoulders after talking to Mrs Weasley.

* * *

It was Friday evening and Hermione had just left the Ministry. After the week she'd had she was exhausted, but her flight to Riga was leaving early the next morning. When going to Australia Hermione prefered magical means of travelling, but short distances such London-Riga she much prefered muggle flights - it wasn't even a three-hour flight after all, and it was always such a hassle to apply for international portkeys. Even though Hermione wanted nothing more than to go home and fall into her bed, she wasn't quite done for today yet.

Humming to herself, Hermione apparated to Grimmauld Place, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not disturb Sirius - if he was even in. He did go out fairly regularly on weekends. At least when they didn't have one of their movie nights. Besides, she was only stopping by to grab a book from the library, and wasn't planning on staying any longer than she had to. As it was, however, Hermione could hear voices coming from the kitchen and when she picked up on her name, she couldn't help but sneak closer and listen to whoever it was that was talking about her. From the little she could make out so far, it sounded like Harry and Sirius, and she furrowed her brows.

"The thing with Charlie surprised you as well?" she heard Sirius ask when she was close enough to make out their words.

"It wasn't something I expected from her, but I can see Charlie being more her type after things with Theo went south. He's about as different from Theo as could be." Hermione huffed - Harry wasn't wrong, but she definitely hadn't thought about it that way. Sirius laughed at his godson and she could practically see the way he'd look at Harry in her head.

"She seemed surprised that she'd need time to get over Charlie."

"I guess even Hermione can't be prepared for everything." Harry's voice was soft, he sounded fond rather than sarcastic and a small smile stole its way onto her face. "Anyway, shouldn't we be discussing your Secret Santa present for her?" Hermione's eyebrows shot up and she thought, _oh shit, I shouldn't hear this_. She quickly moved back down the hallway and went up to the library as quietly as possible. In a way it was nice to know that Sirius was her Secret Santa - she was sure to get something fun and entertaining, though she doubted it would be as personal as some of the gifts she'd gotten over the years.

Her mind racing with ideas of what Sirius might get her, it took her a while longer to locate the book she wanted to take to Latvia in the Black family library. It wasn't _really_ a dark text, but it did discuss some ancient rituals using blood magic, which was why it wouldn't be considered light either. However, since she'd used it to save people, she thought it was worth the risk.

Suppressing a yawn, Hermione scrawled a quick note for Sirius, telling him where and why she'd taken the book and when she'd be back, and left it stuck to the door, so he wouldn't miss it. As unlikely as that was. Smiling to herself because she was excited to see what Latvia was like she apparated back to her flat and went to bed, having an early night for once.

* * *

 _A/N: Hello everyone!_

 _A slightly shorter one this week - I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless and let me know what you think!  
Any places you want Hermione to visit, anything else you'd like to see in this story? I'm open to suggestions! __c:_

 _I've mentioned the Charlie/Sirius story I'll have to write by the end of July last week, but I've actually got the plot all planned out now and it did in fact end up longer than I initially thought it would be. Really glad I signed up for the thing though, because it's pushing me to write something I've never written before. However, as it is only two months until the one-shot is due, I will be sticking to the one chapter every two weeks update schedule._

 _I have three more chapters after this finished, so that'll be until the end of July and then I can get back to writing this, haha._

 _Also! The next two chapters are my absolute favourites out of the whole story so far; I'm super proud of them :D_

 _Anyway - hope you're all having a good start to your weekend!_


	9. Chapter 8

Most of the Latvian Ministry was located in Riga, but the Veil they'd been working on was in Cēsis, Latvia's oldest town that was about an hour and a half drive away from the capital. Thankfully they could floo or apparate there, because although the country was prepared for its winters and the heavy snowfall the season brought, Hermione couldn't stand muggle transport in these kind of conditions.

The flight had been quiet enough with only some turbulences during the landing that had her gripping her small bag more tightly and focusing very hard on keeping her breathing steady. By the time she was through passport control, Hermione was back to her usual self and looked around for whoever was picking her up. A man in his 50s, who was looking quite stern, came up to her and introduced himself as Aigars, showing her some identification from the Latvian Ministry. Although he probably knew quite a bit about her, Hermione introduced herself and they made smalltalk as they left the airport.

"We are very glad you have agreed to come on such short notice to help with this problem," Aigars said once they were out of earshot of the Muggles, his accent soft and somehow melodic. "Over the years a lot of people have vanished from the Circle, so the research into it is very important to us."

Hermione shivered and pulled her cloak closer around her - it really was much colder here than in the UK, approaching -30°C that day. "It's no problem at all. I'm glad to be able to help you with this. I wouldn't want anyone to get stuck in limbo for 10 years again. It's not a pleasant experience from what we've been told."

"Sirius Black," Aigars said and Hermione nodded. No use denying it since they were pretty well informed.

"We've brought more people back since him, of course. He just got the most attention," Hermione said, rolling her eyes, but smiling fondly. Aigars studied her face for a moment, but didn't comment. So far Hermione had followed him without really looking around all that much. They were in an empty part of the car park when Aigars stopped and held out his arm to her.

"Is it okay for you to side-along? We were planning on taking you straight to Cēsis, brief you there, and get started on bringing Ieva back as soon as possible."

Hermione simply grabbed Aigars' arm and said, "Let's go, then." He gave her a small smile and a moment later, she felt like she was being pushed and squeezed through a tube - the typical sensation of side-along apparition. She hated it.

When her feet hit the ground, Hermione nearly toppled over, but Aigars steadied her, tightening his grip on her arm. "Thank you." She took a step away from the wizard and straightened her coat before looking around. They'd landed in a small road. There were houses around, but overall it seemed like a pretty quiet place. She could see a church rising up over the other houses, but there weren't really any other distinguishing landmarks.

"If you would like to follow me." Aigars walked down the road, Hermione quickly catching up with him and walking besides him, but still looking around curiously. It looked quite different from the UK, but also different from Romania and other places she'd been to in the past. Still, it reminded her of some place, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where.

"I'll be staying in a hotel?" Hermione asked after the silence between them stretched out.

"Yes, it is the biggest hotel in town. It is a little further from the castle, but we can apparate, so it should be fine. And the manager of the hotel is a squib, so he will not be asking too many questions," Aigars explained and Hermione nodded along. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the town center that consisted of a large market square with several roads branching off from it. They made their way down one of those roads, walking up to one of the biggest houses she'd seen in the town so far.

Hermione was checked in without any problems and they stopped by her room, so she could sort out which books to take with her. Aigars watched with an amused expression on his face when Hermione emptied her small handbag onto the bed, bringing forth more items than should be possible.

"You legally expanded that bag?" he asked while she grabbed a number of books and threw them back into the bag.

Hermione's eyes twinkled with amusement and a smirk appeared on her face, "Of course. The Minister himself signed off on it. Besides, it's undetectable." Aigars shook his head, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Kings had signed off on a number of things for her, knowing full that she'd never abuse his trust. It was still nice to know that Minister of Magic _did_ trust her though.

"Right, I have all the books I need. What did you need to brief me on?"

"We do not actually have all that much information, because Ieva was working on the Circle by herself and she did not take an extensive amount of notes." Hermione furrowed her brows at the words - that seemed like a massive oversight. Not that it could be changed now. "Her notes do say that the Circle is similar in age to the Veil, but that it took longer to activate the Circle, which is why it was not used as early as the Veil. She thinks that the Circle was only used for executions later on. Before it was used to communicate with the dead. However, no one has attempted to use it for centuries, neither to communicate with the dead, nor to execute criminals." That sounded fairly similar to the Veil. Although she herself didn't believe that it could be used to communicate with the dead, it was a prevalent hypothesis among the other Unspeakables.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go and see for ourselves. Maybe it's better I'm not influenced by Ieva's findings since something she did didn't go quite right."

"Yes. Ieva checked in as per usual on Monday morning and said she wanted to try to activate the Veil. She was not clear on what activating it entailed, though, and she did not wait for another colleague to be present before her attempt. We only realised that something had gone wrong and that she was gone when she did not come by my office during lunch for an update." While Aigars appeared like quite a stoic person, Hermione could tell that Ieva would get a scolding once she was back.

"Let's go then," Hermione said, slinging her bag over her shoulder after putting on her coat once more. Aigars held out his arm for her again and as soon as she grabbed it, she was being pulled along. When they landed, they were almost knee deep in snow, and Hermione could feel the magic permeating the place - it was almost like Hogwarts. In the distance she could see the castle. So the magic didn't come from there? Hermione looked around, furrowing her brows, and feeling around with her own magic until it hit some ward on the edge of a small forest. Not waiting for Aigars, she started in that direction.

"I could have just told you where it is," Aigars said, walking besides her and Hermione blushed.

"Sorry, the magic is so strong, it's hard not to notice."

Aigars nodded. "We let our strongest curse breakers put up wards after Ieva vanished."

"Can we just go through or do we have to dismantle them first?"

"I can key you in, give me a moment." While Hermione stopped, Aigars crossed the magical barriers and vanished from her sight. A moment later he reappeared, still behind the wards, and she could suddenly see the Circle.

"A modification on the Fidelius?" she asked, raising her eyebrows as she crossed the wards, and again Aigars simply nodded.

"Interesting," Hermione whispered, but her eyes were already fixed on the Circle. It was a collection of fairly large rocks, all arranged in a circle that alternated between a tall rock - almost 2m in height at her estimation - and one about half that size. The rocks were covered in runes, all painstakingly arranged with equal spaces between them. It must have taken forever to get this working.

As Hermione looked around, she realised that the temperature within the wards was _much_ higher than outside. She'd already noticed the lack of snow, but she'd just assumed someone had cleared that away. Instead it had probably never snowed here. Looking over at Aigars, she could see that he'd already shrugged off his jacket and conjured himself a comfortable-looking armchair, watching her work. Following his example, she shrugged off her coat and rolled up the sleeves of her jumper. Pulling out a book on runes and her notebook, she got started on figuring out what the runes on the first of the four tall rocks said.

At first glance the runes seemed to be about earth as an element. This was similar to the Veil which was based on the elements and keeping the balance between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Maybe translating the rocks wouldn't be that difficult after all. If it used magic so similar to that of the Veil she wouldn't have to adjust the ritual all that much to make it work for a Circle instead of an archway either.

It still took her hours to complete her preliminary translation of all the rune stones. The tall ones all spoke of an element while the smaller ones' runes discussed mixing one element with the other. At some point Aigars had asked if she wanted some lunch, but Hermione had declined, too engrossed in her work to eat. A couple of other people from the Ministry stopped by throughout the day, but they never stayed long, only exchanging a few words with Aigars, who stayed with her the whole time.

With a groan and rubbing her eyes Hermione got up from where she'd been sitting cross-legged in front of the last of the "small" rune stones. Aigars looked over at her as she walked up to him. "I think I've figured out most of the runes. Out ritual should only need a few adjustments that shouldn't be too difficult to make. Ieva's parents will be taking part in the ritual?"

"Yes, they are at the hotel. I can pick them up any time."

"Better do it now then. I want to try the ritual before it gets dark and it looks like the sun'll start setting soon." Aigars nodded and left, apparating away once outside the wards. Hermione quickly went over the ritual, adjusting the arithmantic equations to make it work for a circle and add in points for the smaller stones. After adjusting the maths, Hermione raised her wand and started drawing a ritual circle in the middle of the stone circle, the four most important points being right by the tall rune stones. Aigars would have to join them, Hermione realised halfway through. He wouldn't have to donate any of his blood, but he could be an anchor for Hermione, balancing things out quite nicely. As Hermione was making some small adjustments to her rune circle, Aigars returned with Ieva's parents who watched her finish her work patiently, although they were fidgeting nervously.

"Hello, Mrs Pašlaika, Mr Pašlaiks. I'm Hermione Granger. It's very nice to meet you, although I expect we all wish it was under different circumstances." The two of them shook her hand and returned her sentiment. She was a little surprised because their accents were quite a bit thicker than Aigars'. She could still understand them, but it was a fair bit more difficult. Hermione explained the ritual to them in detail. When she got to the part where Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika would have to sacrifice some of their blood, she could see fear flicker in their eyes and Hermione looked over at Aigars in hopes that he could dissuade their worries.

The older wizard spoke in rapid Latvian to Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika and soon the two nodded. Heads held high they walked to their positions in the rune circle, taking up air and earth. "I'd like you to stand in the spot for fire, Aigars. I think we'll need you for balance, but you don't have to sacrifice any of your blood." Aigars nodded and took his own spot, which left the water one for Hermione. She sat down on the ground just like the others had done and nodded at Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika to cut their palms and add their blood to the Circle. As they did, Hermione closed her eyes and began chanting, putting her hands flat on the sandy ground and feeling out the magic.

It didn't take her long to feel _something_ react. It was definitely a soul that had connected with them and she started feeding more and more of her magic into the connection, but no matter how much she pulled, it wouldn't come through. Sweat was beading on her forehead and she could smell the scorched earth beneath her fingertips, the amount of raw magic burning it. Hermione kept up the link for a long time, even as her breathing became laboured and her brows were knitted together. Just as she thought she'd run out of magic she felt a trickle of someone else's magic supplementing her own. Aigars. However, even with his help, she couldn't keep up the connection much longer and with a sob she stopped chanting and pulled her hands off the ground. The link snapped. Gasping, the other three stared at her.

"I'm sorry. It wouldn't work. Maybe I made a mistake, maybe we need another blood relative," Hermione said, feeling dizzy, her voice weak. Aigars gave her a hand, helping her up and the four of them left the circle as quickly as possible, none of them sure how it would react after having so much magic ran through it. The cuts on Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika's hands were healed quickly, but they couldn't hide their disappointment.

"We thought you would be able to help," Mrs Pašlaika said, dabbing at the tears in her eyes as her husband wrapped an arm around her.

"I will find a way to get Ieva back," Hermione said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She was annoyed with herself, not Ieva's parents, but they'd probably take it the wrong way. "Does Ieva have any siblings?" When Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika nodded, Hermione asked, "Could they join us here by tomorrow?" Again a nod. Mrs Pašlaika explained that Ieva had a sister, Zane, who could probably come to Cēsis the following day.

"Good, I'll use the rest of today to check my rune translations again. Maybe the Circle isn't as similar to the Veil as I thought. I'll see you again tomorrow." With that Hermione turned around, grabbing her notebook and book of runes once more and started all over again with one of the tall rune stones. Aigars went back to his armchair after saying goodbye to Ieva's parents and kept his watch over her.

"Ah, fuck me," Hermione muttered when she finally figured out what had gone wrong. The smaller rune stone between 'earth' and 'water' mentioned Samhain. It was a rune she'd never seen before and overlooked earlier. Aigars looked up at her exclamation, but Hermione ignored him, rushing from stone to stone and checking each of them over again, scanning for the runes she now expected to find. Samhain, winter solstice, Imbolc, spring equinox, Beltane, summer solstice, Lughnasadh, autumn equinox, and back to Samhain.

"I misinterpreted the runes," Hermione told Aigars, frowning, because what a stupid mistake was that? She shouldn't have assumed the Circle worked the same way as the Veil and rushed things. "The different rune stones stand for the old pagan holidays and I'm guessing it's only possible to pull people back on those days when the old magic is the strongest." Aigars raised his eyebrows.

"The Veil does not work like that? Many people still follow the old traditions here. Even muggles celebrate midsummer, for example."

Hermione nodded. "The Veil works based on an elemental balance, but the Circle seems to have been linked to the holidays instead. Do you know when the next solstice is? Did we just miss it?"

"Tomorrow." Hermione gaped at Aigars for a moment then nodded slowly.

"I think," she began, running a hand through her hair. "I think if it hadn't been so close to the solstice today I wouldn't even have been able to connect to Ieva at all. I would have written her off as lost." Hermione blanched at the thought and AIgars seemed uncomfortable with this turn of events as well.

"Fortunately you did feel her," he said and then told her they should get back to the hotel and start fresh the following day. And he reminded her that she really ought to get some dinner before retiring for the evening.

Back at the hotel the two of them quickly grabbed a bite to eat - by the time Hermione was finally back in her room her exhaustion caught up with her. She slept like a rock that night.

* * *

The next morning Hermione rose early, determined to do everything in her power to bring back Ieva from beyond the Circle that day. After a quick shower, she rushed her breakfast in the hotel to get back to the Circle as early as possible. She would have gone straight to the Circle by herself, but she thought Aigars wouldn't appreciate it, so instead she sent a patronus to him, telling him that she was ready to go back, asking if he could take her again, because she wanted to check the rune stones one more time while she adjusted the ritual. It took Aigars quite a while to finally show up outside her room and knock on her door.

When she let him in, he said, "You are an early riser."

"I just wanted a few more hours with the Circle, so I could fix the ritual properly," Hermione said, but Aigars didn't seem too bothered by the fact that she'd woken him so early in the morning. He probably just wasn't fully awake yet. It was only then that she saw that he was holding a massive to-go cup of coffee that he took a big sip from as he followed her inside the room. Definitely not fully awake yet. While she went to get her book bag, Aigars shut the door behind him and held out his arm for her when she turned back to him. Within seconds of her grabbing it they stood outside the wards protecting the Circle, though the Circle itself was difficult to make out because it was still so dark outside.

"Will have to do something about that," Hermione muttered as they crossed the wards. A small smile tugged on the corners of her lips as she sent up two dozen bluebell flames that illuminated the Circle and its surroundings in an eerie blue light. Without any further distractions Hermione got to work. Since they'd come up with a new theory for how the Circle worked it was easy enough to check the rune stones one more time before adjusting the ritual and removing the rune circle from yesterday from the center of the Circle.

It was nearly noon by the time Hermione finished the ritual and a new rune circle that hopefully would work this time around. She sat down on the ground just outside the Circle with a huff and looked over at Aigars who'd gone over to reading after he'd finished his breakfast.

"Do you know when exactly Zane will get here?" Hermione asked and Aigars looked up in surprise from his book.

"Not exactly. I would expect it to be soon." Aigars said and Hermione nodded. "I better get back to the hotel if you are done, and bring them here as soon as Zane arrives." That sounded like a good plan to Hermione and she agreed to wait at the Circle instead of going back as well. She pulled out another book from her bag as soon as Aigars had popped away and settled in for a longer wait. It would be good to rest up a little before Ieva's family got there anyway. She'd need all the energy she could get for the ritual later on.

Hermione lost track of time as she waited, having forgotten her watch back in the hotel room. She'd cancelled her bluebell flames quite some time ago when it was finally light enough outdoors to see properly, but Latvia seemed quite a bit like Scotland - it didn't get properly light during the winter, particularly on the day of the winter solstice. On top of which it was pretty overcast that day. She really hoped the ritual would work before sunset because she didn't fancy doing the ritual all night long.

Not long after that thought had popped into her mind, Aigars returned with Ieva's family. Zane seemed to be Hermione's age or a little bit older - the older of the sisters then. She looked very much like Mrs Pašlaika with her pale skin and very thick dark hair that fell almost to her hips. She did have Mr Pašlaiks dark brown eyes though. There was a tenseness to her as she introduced herself to Hermione and Mr Pašlaiks and Mrs Pašlaika only nodded at her.

"Right," Hermione said with a sigh. "We better get started. Mr Pašlaiks, Mrs Pašlaika you two take the same positions as yesterday. Zane, you will sit across from me. Aigars, you don't have to enter the rune circle, but I might need you to feed me magic again if you don't mind." Her orders were followed without protest and once the others had taken their positions, Hermione sat down in her spot and signalled for the others to cut their palms and add their blood to the rune circle. Hermione herself began chanting once Ieva's family had put their bleeding hands to the ground and she pressed her hands into the sand as well.

Right away it felt different from the previous day - yes, her magic was still scorching the ground, but the soul she'd connected with seemed to be moving towards them, even if it was only at a sluggish pace. Hermione poured more of her magic into the link and the soul seemed to speed up ever so slightly. Still, at this rate, she would definitely have to tap Aigars again, if not Ieva's family members as well. For now Hermione just gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, keeping track of how far the soul'd moved so far.

This was definitely much more difficult than the ritual had ever been back in the UK. Yes, she'd magically exhausted herself bringing someone back there as well, but that had only been once. Sweat had formed on her forehead again a while ago and pulling out Ieva was becoming more and more difficult by the second. She felt like she was close to breaking the link when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a rush of magic flooding her body. With renewed vigour she channeled the magic into the connection.

It was just enough.

As Aigars pulled back, having spent the vast majority of his magical energy, Hermione used her last reserves. There was a blinding white light, all the runes lit up at once. When the lights died down, a person was lying in the middle of the rune circle, unmoving, but before Hermione could go check on who she assumed to be Ieva, her whole world turned sideways and faded to black.

* * *

 _Updated A/N November: Heya everyone!_

 _Sorry to everyone who got a message that the story had been updated - all I did was take down the last chapter I'd posted because I wasn't happy with the state of it anymore haha. I'm trying very hard to write the rest of the story at the moment before I start posting again, the first chapter being a new and improved properly edited version of Chapter 9._

 _Hope you're all having a good day and weekend - thank god it's Friday, right? c:_

 _A/N from June/July: Heya everyone!_

 _Dang, this chapter is way late. I don't want to make any excuses, but June has been kind of a mess for me, with financial stuff to sort out, health stuff to sort out, going back to Germany for only a week that was filled with appointments and stuff, and then a work trip at the end of June after I got back to China, which left me with a cold that I still have right now._

 _A massive mess. It's been stressful. I'm only just feeling like things are settling a bit, so I'm getting back into the swing of things with writing and other things._

 _Anyway - sorry this is late, I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway :') This chapter was one of my absolute favourites to write so far!  
_

 _Hope you're all having a good week and that you guys have had a better June than me haha_


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